Agoraphobia is characterized by the person being afraid of getting trapped somewhere and going into a panic attack that can't be helped.
People suffering from agoraphobia are afraid to go anywhere very far away or anywhere that they are not familiar with, in fear they will go into these paralyzing symptoms of their panic attacks. There is really no reason that is obvious for the panic attacks that happen to them if they travel out of their safe territory. A panic attack is a period of extreme anxiety that includes very rapid heartbeat, perspiration, dizziness, trembling, uncontrollable fear and shortness of breath. The period of time involved can be only a few minutes (which is usually the case), or span into the hours. It is very unpleasant for the person.
The word agoraphobia is from two Greek words that translate into fear of the market place literally, and triggers for the sufferer include crowds, wide open places, or even traveling in itself to any destination in any setting.
For a person with agoraphobia, the panic attacks can happen where they feel insecure, out of control, or trapped. Agoraphobia also occurs more often among women, twice more often in fact.
There are biological possibilities for the condition in some individuals. These factors include oversensitivity to hormonal changes, high amounts of sodium lactate in the blood, oversensitivity to physical stimuli and it has been discovered that there is a link to agoraphobia among people who have trouble maintaining their balance. For a normal person to maintain their balance, information is combined from their visual network, their proprioceptive sense and their vestibular system which is the sensory system that predominantly inputs signals about movement and equilibrioception. In some persons with agoraphobia these systems fail to work together in the right way.
Treatments for agoraphobia include exposure treatment, a gradual series of exposure to the feared locations, cognitive restructuring, which is replacing the person's irrational thought with logical and rational thoughts, relaxation therapies and anti-depressant drugs.
Anti-depressant drugs include sertraline, paraoxetine and fluoxetine. These drugs are known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Also, Benzodiazepine tranquilizers, MAO inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants are many times used for this.
There is plenty of help out there for agoraphobia, and people who suffer can begin to lead a normal life, by going to their doctor and following their advice.
Agoraphobia is an unpleasant disability but it is not incurable. Panic attacks will react favorably to medication and other available treatments.
To learn more about this condition, a great resource to explore is VideoJug.com. Here they have an online interview with an Agraphobia Expert, which is extremely interesting and informative.
