They say that fear is free and each person is afraid of different things. This is how those phobias that are not understood from the outside and that are suffered from the inside to the point of limiting the lives of many people could also be explained. This time, in our dictionary of phobias we treat agoraphobia , a type of anxiety disorder that goes far beyond being afraid to go outside .
What is agoraphobia
To fully understand what exactly agoraphobia consists of , we first have to break down this word. ‘Agora’ comes from the Greek and means ‘public square’ or ‘place of meeting and discussion’. On the other hand, ‘Phobia’ also comes from the Greek, in this case from the word ‘Phóbos’ which means irrational and obsessive fear or fear.
Following its etymology, agoraphobia has been thought to be the fear of open spaces . This would explain why the person suffering from agoraphobia cannot leave home, go to the street, much less be in a park or even enjoy a day by the sea. But, worst of all is that the thing does not stop here.
Because what this definition of agoraphobia as fear of open spaces does not explain is why people who suffer from it cannot go to the theater, which is a closed space, or feel an uncontrollable fear in the supermarket or when getting on a bus or a train, for example. The places and situations that produce agoraphobia are so varied that they can even include the inability to sit down with your family in a restaurant for a family celebration.
This indicates that agoraphobia is more than just fear of open spaces. In reality, the fear is of being in a place or situation where you cannot ask for help quickly or cannot immediately escape. Imagine that you are in the cinema and you start to suffer an anxiety attack , how do you get out of there? This is what agoraphobia is based on.
Causes of agoraphobia or fear of going outside
All phobias go hand in hand with anxiety disorders and that is where they originate most of the time. This is more evident in the case of agoraphobia where the fear of having an anxiety attack or a panic attack is the trigger for a whole series of avoidance that can lead someone to not want to leave the house.
In some cases, agoraphobia could have its origin in the parents of the person who suffers it. Very overprotective parents or parents who do not provide enough affection can end up raising a future agoraphobic child.
In other types of phobias , an origin is also sought by conditioning, that is, by having lived a traumatic experience , but, in this case, we can limit ourselves to anxiety problems and the consequences that they entail to find the cause of agoraphobia. If you have ever had a panic attack, you may have realized that it is an experience that you do not want to go through again. And this is how any situation can seem dangerous to you.
How does a person with agoraphobia behave? Most frequent attitudes
Answering this question is not easy since, when it comes to this disorder, a wide variety of factors come into play , most of the time, unpredictable.
What is certain is that agoraphobic people are usually characterized by a series of habitual or common behaviors . Here are some of them:
+ People with agoraphobia tend to hide from their problem . It is very embarrassing for them to admit it and most of the time it is very difficult for them to admit that they are having an anxiety episode . This at the same time generates more anxiety. In short, they enter an infinite loop of agoraphobia that is quite difficult to get out of.
+ People with agoraphobia tend to engage in avoidance behaviors . That is, if they have a fight, for example, with a friend and they know that this situation generates anxiety, they prefer directly to avoid arguments before facing them and learning to manage and handle them.
+ People with agoraphobia experience their problem as a curse and not as something that can be solved . That is, they think that they cannot do anything to control what they feel. They believe that it is something inevitable that they have to assume and with which they have no choice but to live.
+ People with agoraphobia are often very afraid of new experiences . They prefer to stay with the known rather than face unfamiliar situations that are out of their control.
+ People with agoraphobia are often extremely introverted in their social relationships.
Symptoms of this type of fear
The person with agoraphobia experiences all the symptoms of anxiety when exposed to a situation that they consider dangerous. Since it is very difficult to avoid going outside, going to a party, stopping for a moment in the park or going to the mall, the symptoms manifest gradually .
Agoraphobia begins with a feeling of unease and discomfort at being in that particular situation or place. Then there is disorientation or the feeling of unreality that is usually accompanied by tingling . This causes hyperventilation , shortness of breath, and rapid heartbeat . And that’s when that person needs to get out of there immediately.
Diagnosis
First of all, we want to emphasize the fact that this information is only indicative and that to know if you suffer from agoraphobia or not, the most appropriate thing is to go to a specialist to confirm it.
There are people who, at a given moment, may suffer an episode of anxiety similar to those caused by agoraphobia, but that does not mean that they suffer from it. When diagnosing this type of disorder, it is essential that the person perceives it as something that limits their quality of life and, therefore, disables them to continue with their daily routine.
The daily life of a person with agoraphobia: a practical example
Inés leaves the house. Take the subway to work. Suddenly you start to feel a wave of fear . There is no reason to feel this way, everything is in order as always. But she can’t help it, that feeling is out of her control. His heart begins to beat so fast and strong that it seems like it is going to come out of his mouth. You are short of breath, you feel that it is very difficult to breathe Your chest begins to ache , you feel dizzy. Suddenly he has a huge urge to vomit and he can’t stop shaking. She describes it herself as a death agony that never ends. You are having a panic attack .
Ines doesn’t want to go through that experience ever again. For this reason, to avoid a repetition, never take the subway again. You are very afraid that the situation will happen again. The possibility of another attack gives you the chills. Inés begins to go to work by bus and begins to feel calmer. But that false tranquility only lasts for a few days. The panic crisis expands its limits, becomes general and makes its appearance on the bus again. Later on the train. Later in the car. After while walking. History repeats itself over and over again to the point that Inés no longer has alternatives to go to work. He does not want to leave the house .
Ines has become a person with agoraphobia and fear of going out on the street . And you have to put an end to your problem. You can put an end to it.
Treatment of agoraphobia
The story of Inés is only one of the many stories that agoraphobic people live every day. And although, at first glance, it may seem that it is a vicious circle from which you cannot get out, it is not like that. Agoraphobia, like many other phobias and many other anxiety disorders, has a treatment . You just need to recognize the problem and be willing to face it.
You can easily understand the consequences of agoraphobia or fear of going outside, which can end up confining you at home, losing your job and social, family and partner relationships. We are facing a very limiting and destructive phobia and to overcome it, psychological help is needed .
The most effective therapy is Cognitive-Behavioral, which has no side effects (as drugs can have by acting directly on the regulation of hormones and neurotransmitters) and whose benefits tend to last over time .
It is true that this type of therapy is slow and it takes a lot of patience to begin to perceive progress. What exactly does it consist of? The person with agoraphobia should be exposed gradually and always using the guidelines and supervision of a professional to situations that cause anxiety or panic until they generate greater resistance to what is feared.
Cognitive-Behavioral therapy places special emphasis on the beliefs that the person has assimilated about their environment, their habits and their routine actions, so that little by little these beliefs are modified to the point that the person is no longer afraid to face everything that scares you.
In many cases, to overcome agoraphobia it is also recommended to practice some relaxation techniques that help train the ability to manage anxiety.
And in the most extreme cases, agoraphobia needs a drug treatment that complements psychological help. This treatment usually consists of:
1 Anxiolytics : their great advantage is their effectiveness. They have an almost immediate effect when it comes to calming down anxiety attacks. However, anxiolytics also have quite a few side effects that you should be very attentive to:
+ Drowsiness and lack of concentration.
+ It is a very addictive medicine . In fact, if it is withdrawn abruptly, it can lead to withdrawal symptoms .
+ Development of tolerance . This means that the person taking anxiolytics has the need to consume higher and higher doses to achieve the same effect.
+ And their biggest disadvantage, although it may seem contradictory, is precisely that they work and the fact that they work makes the person forget that they have a problem and do not take other types of measures to radically stop it .
2 Antidepressants : antidepressants are another of the most widely used drugs to treat agoraphobia. There are three types specifically: serotonin reception inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepyrephrine reception inhibitors (SSRIs) and tricyclic antidepressants. And you ask yourself: do antidepressants really work to calm anxiety ? And the answer is yes. Antidepressants can be used both to control mood and to control anxiety. In addition, it is also possible for a person to develop depression from the feeling that agoraphobia causes of having a totally limited life. In this case, antidepressants would be doubly helpful. Of course, they always have to be controlled by a professional.
