Agoraphobia
Medical Author: Roxanne Dryden-Edwards, MD
Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD
What is agoraphobia?
A phobia is generally defined as the unrelenting fear of a situation,
activity, or thing that causes one to want to avoid it. The definition of
agoraphobia is a fear of being outside or otherwise being in a situation from
which one either cannot escape or from which escaping would be difficult or
humiliating.
Phobias are largely underreported, probably because many phobia sufferers
find ways to avoid the situations to which they are phobic. The fact that
agoraphobia often occurs in combination with panic disorder makes tracking how
often it occurs all the more difficult. Other facts about agoraphobia include
that researchers estimate it occurs in less than 1 percent to almost 7
percent of the population and that it is specifically thought to be grossly
underdiagnosed.
What causes agoraphobia?
There are a number of theories about what can cause agoraphobia. One
hypothesis is that agoraphobia develops in response to repeated exposure to
anxiety-provoking events. Mental-health theory that
focuses on how individuals react to internal emotional conflicts (psychoanalytic
theory) describes agoraphobia as the result of a feeling of emptiness that comes
from an unresolved Oedipal conflict, which is a struggle between the feelings
the person has toward the opposite-sex parent and a sense of competition with
the same-sex parent. Although agoraphobia, like other mental disorders, is
caused by a number of factors, it also tends to run in families and for some
people, may have a clear genetic factor contributing to its development.
What are the symptoms of agoraphobia?
The symptoms of agoraphobia include anxiety that one will have a panic attack
when in a situation from which escape is not possible or is difficult or
embarrassing. The panic attack associated with agoraphobia, like all panic
attacks, may involve intense fear, disorientation, rapid heart beat, dizziness,
or diarrhea. Agoraphobic individuals often begin to avoid the situations that
provoke these reactions. Interestingly, the situations that are often avoided by
people with agoraphobia and the environments which cause people with balance
disorders to feel disoriented are quite similar. This leads some cases of
agoraphobia to be considered as vestibular function agoraphobia.
Next: What are the risk factors for agoraphobia? »
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