Agoraphobia

Agoraphobia is a big word that sounds scary and is often misunderstood.  It is the fear of going to places or situations that you may have a symptom attack with no easy way to escape or get someplace you think of as safe.  A symptom attack could be a panic attack, diarrhea, a sudden headache, nausea, loss of bladder control, or asthma.

What is Agoraphobia?

You can suffer from panic disorder with agoraphobia, which means you have panic attacks in certain situations as opposed to out of the blue.  Common situations that people fear being trapped are:

• Cars, trains, and buses, tunnels, planes, boats
• Bridges
• Crowds
• Standing in line
• Being far away from bathrooms, hospitals, home.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is an effective treatment for agoraphobia.  It teaches people how to respond to physical sensations differently and slowly face the situations they have been avoiding allowing them to live more fully with less anxiety.