Agoraphobia Symptoms

Lets take a look again at the symptoms frequently associated with Agoraphobia. You probably have agoraphobia if you are experiencing the following symptoms:

Number one is panic attacks. A panic attack being experienced as a period of irrational fear usually lasting for ten minutes or more. Most people with agoraphobia will have frequent panic attacks.


The second symptom that will associate the panic attack with Agoraphobia is "Avoidance Behavior."

A panic attack is a torturous emotional and physical experience and many people who have just one panic attack will do almost anything to avoid having another one. Agoraphobia is when when this avoidance behavior gets severe enough to disrupt the persons ability to go about their normal daily activities.


People with agoraphobia will avoid places or situations in which having to make a quick exit due to a panic attack is likely to cause embarrassment. In contrast it could also be a situation in which no one is around to help if a panic attack or other emergency may occur.

Many people with agoraphobia confine themselves to going only a certain distance from their home, or to what they would consider to be a "safe" place or they are with a "safe" person. The most common safe place for someone with agoraphobia is his or her own home.

At first people close to the person with agoraphobia may be unaware that there is a problem because they will make excuses to explain their avoidance behavior. To cope with the fear however, people with agoraphobia commonly establish "safe" people and places. In time they are likely to make it known to those close to them that they do indeed have a problem. Safe people are people with whom the person is highly familiar and feels emotionally close such as parents, spouses, children, relatives, or close friends.

It is important that the person who has agoraphobia along with those around them understand what it means. Recognising that they have the condition is the first step in coming to terms with what it means, and what can be done to help..

Agoraphobia and Panic Attack Disorder

Panic attacks or panic disorder can develop into agoraphobia. It is possible to educate yourself on the connection between agoraphobia and panic attack disorder before it begins to ruin your life.

I started to feel funny, I felt strange somehow, I began to wonder if I was going to pass out. I suppose that is what is meant by a panic attack. My worst fear at the time was that there were lots of people around me, suppose I did pass out with all those people there. What would they think?

I just wanted to get home. Once I arrived home, and I can't actually remember getting there, I felt a lot better. But what if it happens again?

Agoraphobia and Panic Attack Disorder Are Ruining Your Life
By Denise Durbin

Many people do not realize that agoraphobia is a form of anxiety disorder that is quite common but highly treatable. Agoraphobia and panic attack disorder are closely in that an individually suffering from agoraphobia fears situations or settings where they feel out of control or fear the onset of a panic attack in public.

When a person suffers from panic attacks they run the risk of having these attacks in a public place. After the very first panic attack, the person might become fearful of having another attack in a place that they cannot control. Spending time in places where they might have a panic attack becomes impossible for these people and agoraphobia becomes the problem.

This is why it is so important that panic attacks be treated immediately so that they do not progress to a state that completely hinders the quality of life. If you have had the symptoms of a panic attack the first thing that you must do is visit the doctor and be properly diagnosed. If it does turn out to be a panic disorder, then you can take the first steps for treatment.

The doctor may prescribe medication that will help to ease the symptoms of a panic attack when it is taking place. There are also antidepressant medications that will help patients keep their panic attacks under control.

There are also behavior therapies that work very well in the treatment of panic attacks and disorders. The most important part of treatment is that the panic disorder does not reach the level of agoraphobia. Sometimes the fear of having an attack is enough to trigger one. It is necessary to learn to control this type of thinking and put it in check before it causes a panic attack to happen.

Unfortunately, people can literally talk themselves right into having a panic attack just by the simple act of talking and thinking about panic attacks. These thought patterns must be changed. Cognitive behavior therapy is one treatment that seeks to do that.

There are also natural treatments that work very well for some people with panic disorders. Hypnosis and breathing techniques along with meditation are some of the more common natural approaches to panic disorder.

If feelings of anxiety have started to affect your ability to go to work or do any of the normal functions of life, you might need a more aggressive therapy for your condition. You should monitor your progress while you are seeking treatment for panic disorders and report any changes in your condition to your doctor or therapist.

If you are having panic attacks and have been diagnosed with anxiety or panic disorder, you should educate yourself on the connection between agoraphobia and panic attack disorder. It is important that you get a handle on the panic attacks before they impair the quality of your life.

Don't let panic attacks ruin your life, you can control anxiety and avoid long term medications for anxiety and panic attack. Visit http://www.AnxietyandPanicAttack.net today and find out how.

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how to Overcome Agoraphobia

In my last post I started to talk about the treatment of Agoraphobia and I said we would investigate further the use of therapy as a means of effecting a cure. I also stated that many people with agoraphobia by the very nature of their condition would find it impossible to visit a therapist. The following piece is written by J J seymour a writer with Self Help Recordings.

J J Seymour states that Hypnotherapy and NLP can be very useful Agoraphobia Help - one good source of experienced hypnotherapists and NLP practitioners is Just Be Well. This organization has experienced professionals throughout the UK in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, East Anglia, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Surrey, Sussex and Scotland. You will also find links to related practitioners for treatment for agoraphobia in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada, for Dublin, Ireland, and for Sydney, Melbourne and Perth in Australia. If you are unable to visit a practitioner in person you may well benefit from a good and guaranteed self hypnosis recording such as Stop Fear, by experienced hypnotherapist Duncan McColl.

How to Overcome Agoraphobia and Get Out There EasilyBy

Approximately 5% of the US population needed or sought agoraphobia help at some point in their lives according to research from America's National Institute of Mental Health. What is agoraphobia? In Greek, the word literally means "fear of the marketplace." In reality, sufferers of this common social anxiety fear entering almost any new situation, especially one in which they feel they might lack control or safety. Some agoraphobics fear crowds or places of bustling social activity (such as at a marketplace). Some fear public transportation. Some begin to panic when they find themselves in the middle of large, open spaces. In extreme cases, agoraphobics refuse to leave their homes altogether, preferring to live, work, and socialize without ever leaving their "safety zone."

Fear Of Going Out Restricts Lives

Agoraphobia can be summarized as the "fear of going out." Unfortunately for its sufferers, being able to go out into society, and into unfamiliar situations, is a vital part off living and functioning in the world. True, some sufferers are perfectly content to spend their lives at home. However, most wish that they could participate in the world more than they do. They feel restricted by the panic that overtakes them whenever they go to a new place by themselves. This inability to go to crowded or highly public places can lead to feelings of isolation and depression. These sufferers wish there was a way to stop fear of going out from interfering with the lives they'd like to lead.

Treatments To Stop Fear

There are a number of treatments out there for this frustrating and crippling anxiety disorder. Some sufferers have resorted to pharmaceuticals, including MAO inhibitors and anti-depressants to reduce the incidence of panic attacks--physiological states in which the fear or crowds or opens spaces triggers a "fight or flight" response in the body. Some sufferers of agoraphobia have joined support groups, hoping that being able to talk about their problems to fellow suffers will alleviate them.

NLP And Hypnotherapy Provide Effective Agoraphobia Help

The most effective sources of agoraphobia help are treatments that involve cognitive restructuring. NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and hypnotherapy techniques fall under this category of treatments, and they can yield surprisingly fast and invariably effective results without ever resorting to pills (which can be expensive, difficult to obtain, and can cause unwanted side effects).

NLP techniques teach you to recognize the unconscious, seemingly automatic thought processes that lead to the onset of panic attacks. Gradually, you'll learn to be in control when you enter situations that trigger your condition. NLP and hypnotherapy techniques will re-train your unconscious mind. They will replace irrational, unhelpful thought processes (such as frantically looking for exits, or fearing the onset of panic attacks) with more sensible, helpful ones. NLP and hypnotherapy can provide substantial agoraphobia help after just 2-4 therapy sessions.


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Treatment of Agoraphobia

Advances in the understanding and treatment of Agoraphobia have been made since the days when my mother suffered from it most severely. I feel that back then, the doctors failed to understand the condition, and the few times she actually consulted with a psychiatric specialist they simply talked about what might be wrong, but failed to provide any actual help or support.

Now the treatment for agoraphobia will almost invariably involve psychotherapy. To be more specific, a type of therapy known as cognitive behaviour therapy, commonly referred to as CBT. In addition anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medicines can also be used to help relieve the symptoms of agoraphobia.

It is my understanding that in recent years, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) has achieved some success in treating people with agoraphobia. It works on the principle that the way you feel is in part dependent on the way you perceive things. In earlier posts we looked at how an agoraphobic will think that a panic attack will occur if they are in a certain environment outside of their comfort zone. Cognitive delivered exposure is designed to put the person into the very situation they are afraid of, but with support, so that they can live through the situation with the realisation that their fear was in fact unfounded.

Many psychologists describe agoraphobic thought and behaviour as a vicious circle. This occurs because the person is afraid that if they put themselves into the situation that they fear then they will have a panic attack. As a result, they avoid putting themselves into that situation. Because of this the anxieties are not resolved, but instead become worse, leading to an increased fear of having a panic attack. The vicious circle keeps revolving but it's intensity or effect becomes worse. Cognitive delivered exposure attempts to break the vicious circle by placing the patient into real-life environments.

I have recently read a report where the use of cognitive delivered exposure was described thus; "if you were worried that you would hyperventilate if you had to walk to the corner shop, your therapist would accompany you to the corner shop to see if this was the case."

Wow - a therapist that would walk to the corner shop with you. Are they living in the real world? That would truly be a far cry from the treatment that my dear old mum got.

However, the principle seems sound and is used to overcome many forms of phobia. It basically means to expose the person to the very thing that they fear, but in a controlled and supportive way.

The person who fears that they would experience a panic attack if they walked to the corner shop, can indeed be helped if they are accompanied by a friend or helper (if not a professional therapist). The first steps should involve only short journeys, it will feel less scary for them if they remain close to their "safe zone". the process should be approached slowly and with constant support. Often, people's perceived predictions of how they will react in certain situations are a lot worse than how they actually react.

Cognitive delivered exposure should begin by setting small goals before moving on to more ambitious tasks which are complete by the person alone as their confidence increases.

Therapists are aware that many people with agoraphobia by the very nature of their condition would find it impossible to visit a therapist so they will arrange home visits. Also, an increasing number of effective programmes can be conducted via the Internet, or through the use of interactive software. We will investigate these further next time.

What is Agoraphobia? - A laymans View

A phobia to put it in simple terms, is a fear of something. Agora comes from the Greek language, and refers to a place where people meet, or more specifically a marketplace. From this we see that agoraphobia is the fear of being in crowded or open spaces.

Agoraphobia is often thought of as the fear of being out in the open, but that isn't strictly correct. People suffering from agoraphobia are quite often more fearful of places where they feel crowded or "hemmed in", as my mother described it, where getting away would be difficult.

A person with agoraphobia is usually reluctant to leave their house, this is their safe territory. This supports the belief that it is not simply being outdoors that frightens the people affected by the condition. Situations such as being in a crowded building, a large exposed place, or any unfamiliar territory can be intensely disturbing to someone with agoraphobia. It is mostly associated with being unable to get to a safe location, or the feeling of being exposed and unprotected, being away from their comfort zone. Because of this a return to familiar territory and normality, may often relieve the symptoms of an agoraphobia related panic attack.

The effects of agoraphobia can range from mild feelings of discomfort or anxiety, to intense fear and panic attacks. Agoraphobia is actually diagnosed differently according to whether the patient experiences panic disorders or not. In fact, many different psychological disorders can share symptoms with agoraphobia, such as a social phobia, separation anxiety disorder (usually in children), and depression.

Overcoming or learning to live with Agoraphobia is a long process, but is one that can be achieved or at least made manageable.

What-is-Agoraphobia - article 2

What is Agoraphobia?
By Stephen Price


Most people have heard of most phobias. Mention claustrophobia, social phobia, or arachnophobia and everyone pretty much knows what you are talking about. Mention agoraphobia, and most people will just shake their heads.

Because of this, many people who get agoraphobia often take a year, and in some cases, many years, just finding out what is wrong with them. Since the panic and anxiety symptoms that come with agoraphobia are so physical, people who get agoraphobia commonly visit a succession of doctors trying in search of a diagnosis. Since medical doctors are not usually trained to diagnose agoraphobia, let alone anxiety disorders, agoraphobia has had time to become deeply rooted in most people before they know enough about the disorder to seek the proper treatment and being recovery.

In light of this, here are some basics about agoraphobia:

Agoraphobia is "anxiety about, or avoidance of, places or situations from which escape might be difficult (or embarrassing) or in which help may not be available in the event of having a panic attack or panic-like symptoms.” (DSM-IV)

Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder. The term “agoraphobia” comes from the Greek words agora (αγορά), meaning “marketplace,” and phobia (φόβος), meaning “fear.” Literally translated as “fear of the marketplace,” people with agoraphobia are afraid of open or public spaces.

In reality, most people with agoraphobia are not so much afraid of open and public places as they are afraid of having a panic attack in these settings, especially settings in which there may be no one to help in the case of a panic attack or actual emergency.

The most common symptoms of agoraphobia are:

1) Panic Attacks: Periods of intense fear, usually lasting about ten minutes or so (but sometimes longer).

2) Avoidance Behavior: Avoiding places and situations that are hard to escape from or that might be embarrassing to have to suddenly leave. Most commonly, this is because they fear having a panic attack or unexpected catastrophe and not being able to get help or get away.

3) Developing "Safe" People: People with whom the agoraphobic is highly familiar with and feels emotionally close to. “Safe” people are usually parents, spouses, children, or close friends and relatives.

4) Developing "Safe" Places: Places in which the agoraphobic feels psychologically comfortable. The most common safe place for someone with agoraphobia is his or her own home.

5) Scanning: Obsessive monitoring of one's own body for strange or unusual symptoms.

6) Fear of being alone: This is related to the fear of having no one to help in the case of a panic attack or real emergency.

If you suspect that you or someone you know might have agoraphobia, don’t waste any time in learning about the disorder. Research has shown that the sooner you start the recovery process the more likely your chances of a successful recovery are.

You can learn more about recovery online at www.agoraphobia.ws the Agoraphobia Resource Center website. The site was started by a recovered agoraphobic with the intention of helping others learn about and recover from agoraphobia.


Stephen Price is a recovered agoraphobic. Since his recovery, he has devoted himself to the study of agoraphobia and to helping others overcome the disorder. Since his recovery, Stephen has earned masters degrees in psychology and counseling and has published original research on anxiety.

Contact:

Stephen Price

Agoraphobia Resource Center

http://www.agoraphobia.ws
559-322-6898

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Overcome Agoraphobia - article 2

Overcome Agoraphobia
By Peter Nagy


Many of us have heard of mental disorders, and most of us think that only certain people become afflicted with these conditions. However this is simply not the case. Mental disorders include panic attacks, anxiety disorders and social anxieties as well. These attacks can range from mild discomfort to debilitating agoraphobia and this is a condition that can strike anyone.

Your life is going along the normal path that you've set out when suddenly without any warning terror has you in its grip. You feel weak and helpless. Your heart's pounding and you have trouble breathing. You may even wonder if you're having a heart attack or if you're about to die. When you finally go to see a doctor, you might even be told there's nothing physically wrong with you.

So when you next suffer from an attack you wonder what's wrong with you. You find that certain situations will bring on these frightening attacks and this will be your first clue that you're experiencing a panic attack. Panic attacks are not physical conditions, and that is why your doctor might have had trouble diagnosing your complaint.

So, what is agoraphobia you might ask? This is a condition where an individual doesn't wish to go places or face situations where they could become exposed to panic attacks. The very word agoraphobia itself lets us know the nature of this debilitating condition. 'Agora' comes from the Greek language and it means places where people meet, or a marketplace. 'Phobia' is a fear of something. Thus we can understand that people who suffer from agoraphobia have a fear of being in crowded places.

Agoraphobia is a condition that develops gradually. In general it occurs after a panic attack. After the first attack you may subconsciously be preparing for another attack and fearing the symptoms that will leave you feeling helpless. This cycle of panic attack and impending panic attack can cause you to change your entire lifestyle just to avoid those feelings of terror. As panic attacks can occur anywhere at anytime, we generally associate the first place that we feel helpless as perhaps the reason for our terror.

An agoraphobia sufferer will go out of their way to avoid those places and situations where a panic attack may occur. They may even end up being housebound as they avoid being in crowded places. This unhealthy lifestyle can in itself trigger agoraphobic attacks to occur in everyday normal situations. The increased heart rate may also cause a panic attack because you may think that you're having a heart attack.

As you can see this is a vicious and extremely debilitating mental condition. For sufferers of panic attacks they should seek the medical aid of doctors who specialize in these mental disorders and receive treatment before their panic attacks spiral into agoraphobia where they may end up being restricted in their lifestyle due to their ever increasing fear of being helpless in the face of a panic attack.


Peter Nagy was able to beat his anxiety and now dedicates much of his time researching alternative/natural ways to be healthy.

To learn more about agoraphobia and anxiety disorder visit: --->Overcoming Agoraphobia<---

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