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Agoraphobia Article
Agoraphobia: the Truths Behind Each Panic Attack
from:Agoraphobia is often misconceived as fear of "open spaces" when actually it is not. In the strictest term, agoraphobia can be defined as fear for crowded places and spaces that may be associated with fear of the public.
Contrary to what is popularly known among laymen, agoraphobics are only afraid of crowded and confined spaces, definitely not open spaces such as houses of worships, shopping, traveling, being alone and social gatherings.
To further prove the point, the root terms of the word "agoraphobia" are agora, which means "marketplace" in Greek, and phobia, which can be literally transcribed as "fear". If we were to sum them up, we would land down to the literal meaning of "fear of the marketplace". The marketplace in itself is not an open space, rather a crowded place. To move further, the Greek term "agora" has the earlier meaning of "a place where people gather" which makes sense when we are trying to separate claustrophobia from agoraphobia.
Additionally, people begin to experience agoraphobia when they commence avoiding too busy places and places that may be linked with closed spaces. This phobia begins when the person feels arrested with too much anxiety that makes him suffer from unexplainable fear. The tendency then is to do anything and go anywhere away from his comfort zone where panicking can be avoided.
Meanwhile, panic onsets become their initiators to be overly stressed even when the condition that initiates the panic has obviously subsided. This will cause the feedback condition where the person will begin to experience panic disorders or states related to panicking. For some, the fearful state will continue until the general feeling of fear diminishes.
Therefore, agoraphobia is both a severe anxiety disorder and a phobia with the addition of avoidant behavior.
In some cases, the condition that characterizes agoraphobia can be quite intriguing. A person with this disorder might not leave his home for years but may as well be happy seeing visitors but only if they are in defined places and rooms where help can be secured immediately.
Severe panics may be felt where the agoraphobic experiences the feeling of being trapped. He may feel unsecured and very uncomfortable with the place. For most severe cases, an agoraphobic will prefer a single room (even hate his own comfort zone) and may become bed-bound until the over-stimulation of his nervous system subsides and level of his adrenaline lowers down to the normal state.
Also, during attacks agoraphobics may become overly conscious with the happenings in their bodies that even a slight change in the heart rate may signal them to experience panic attack. It is not rare that a person with agoraphobia will interpret the conditions in which he is experiencing the initial attack of agoraphobia as the start of a heart attack (e.g. climbing of stairs that causes increased heart beat and rate of breathing).
Though agoraphobia is a single condition, it may be associated with some other fears for other things that characterize the common symptoms that indicate agoraphobia attacks:
Fear of loneliness or of being alone
Fear of failing to control one self in a public place
Fear of difficulty of escaping in specific places
Fear of detachment from others
Feeling of helplessness
Too much dependence on other people
Feeling of unreal body
Feeling of unreal environment
Panic attack or anxiety
Unusual temper
Agitation accompanied by trembling or twitching
While men can also be affected by agoraphobia, cases are more prevalent among women which amounts to twice the percentage than that of the male population.
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