>>> Agoraphobia - Introduction and Definition <<<

Even these days, in the early stages of 21^st century, agoraphobia is still a big enigma and an “unknown zone” not only for the majority of ordinary people but for a good portion of the medical professionals as well. Unless you are the one (unfortunate enough) who has been struck by this nasty condition and who has experienced its symptoms first hand, it would be very hard to fully explain or even to define the term “agoraphobia”.

Misunderstandings and confusions usually start when somebody tries to define “agoraphobia” in a simplistic way by directly and literary translating its original name. Greek “agora” = marketplace + “phobos” = fear. Straight translation of these two Greek words gives us an organic but very basic and misleading definition which in most cases reads like this: “Agoraphobia is a fear of marketplaces (crowded or open spaces)”.

Although this is partially true, most agoraphobics do feel bad and unsafe in such places and therefore they try to avoid them at any cost, the reality is that issues concerning this subject matter have to be explained in a much broader and more comprehensive way in order to fully understand this mental condition.

Generally speaking, all anxiety disorders have a trigger or a cause behind them which would explain the reason why they started occurring in the first place. In some of them the cause might be more obvious and easier to establish (like for example in posttraumatic stress disorder) while in others (panic disorder) the logical explanation might never be found. Overwhelming, exaggerated anxiety, worries or fears are characteristics of all anxiety disorders and depending on their severity they often lead to panic attacks.

From the other hand, in case of agoraphobia the chain of the events in most cases is completely opposite. Agoraphobia usually starts as a result of panic attack. After going through terrifying moments during a panic attack, the place or the situation where the actual attack has happened become engraved into the mind of agoraphobics. The very next time they find themselves in the same or similar surroundings a flashback of the previous episode appears in their mind and unconsciously they anticipate a new panic attack. Associating the places and situations with bad memories of the past experiences agoraphobia sufferers start to avoid such places as a plaque. They begin to plan their trips very carefully and desperately try to find an alternative route.

Places which find their way into an agoraphobic’s “unsafe list” don’t necessary have to be crowded or open. In fact any imaginable place from an elevator, train, plane, shopping mall, cinema, an empty beach to a local bakery shop or a post office may become blacklisted. As agoraphobia is very often a “product” of another anxiety disorder (most likely panic disorder) with every new panic attack the list of “dangerous places and situations” grows and agoraphobics become more and more limited in the relation of where they can go without having panicky feelings. If the condition goes untreated for a longer period of time sufferers can become completely housebound.

“Agoraphobia is a pattern of avoidant behavior which comes under the category of secondary anxiety disorders as well as phobias.”