Agoraphobia
What is agoraphobia?
Agoraphobia is a chronic disabling mental condition in which individuals experience severe anxiety and panic symptoms in places or situations where they perceive that escaping would be difficult or embarrassing, such as crowded or public places and being alone, often leading to avoidance.
What are the signs and symptoms of agoraphobia?
When either in situations or in anticipation of being in stations in which the individual perceives escape would be difficult or embarrassing, they may experience any of the following anxiety symptoms:
Restlessness, irritability and increases startle response
Fearfulness, apprehension and exaggerated worry or unrealistic appraisal of danger to self.
Bodily sensations such as hyperventilation, faintness, numbness of the extremities, muscle tension, fatigue, pain, stiffness, and tremor.
Increased heart rate, hot and cold flushes, visiting the bathroom frequently, sweating
Difficulty initiating sleep or tossing and turning whilst sleeping
Feeling unreal or feeling the environment is unreal.
Fear of loosing control, going crazy, having a heart attack, or dying
Avoidance of situations that increase anxiety or insecurity and restricted involvement in activities due to excessive worries about what could happen.
The symptoms usually impair the personal, occupational, and social functioning of the individual.
How common is agoraphobia?
Over a lifetime, one in every hundred individuals would experience symptoms of agoraphobia
Females are three times as likely to present with agoraphobia compared to males.
What causes agoraphobia?
Panic disorder is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Which mental conditions commonly coexist with agoraphobia?
Other anxiety disorders such as panic disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, OCD commonly coexist with panic disorder
Depression
Alcohol and substance misuse
How is agoraphobia treated?
If you feel you are having any of the signs and symptoms of agoraphobia listed above the first this to do is to consider visiting your Family Doctor or talk to a healthcare professional.
Your doctor will take a history from you, do a mental state examination, perform a physical examination, and may order some blood tests before confirming you have agoraphobia.
Once it is confirmed you have social agoraphobia, your doctor may prescribe you some medication such as SSRI antidepressants and beta blockers, and in some cases, your doctor may refer you to see a psychiatrist, who is a doctor who is an expert in treating individuals with mental health difficulties.
Your doctor may also refer you to a clinical psychologist or mental health therapist or counsellor to receive individual or group psychological treatment referred to commonly as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
CBT is a form of counselling in which the therapist helps an individual change the negative patterns of thinking which affects the individual’s behaviour and attitudes. Components of CBT when used to treat agoraphobia include relaxation training, anxiety management and graded exposure with modelling.
References
