Agoraphobia Basics

Agoraphobia Basics
A person with agoraphobia suffers from intense fear of everyday circumstances such as being on a bus, standing on a bridge or being part of a crowd. In its most severe form, agoraphobia (a word drawn from Greek, loosely meaning "fear of the marketplace") can make people feel so trapped by their own fears they're sometimes unable to leave their homes for years.

Often agoraphobia develops because a person experiences panic attacks in one or more of these public places. Sudden, terrifying symptoms include difficulty breathing, chest pain, pounding heart, dizziness or the feeling of choking, accompanied by fears of approaching death or madness. During such frightening conditions, a person feels an intense need to flee.

Once panic attacks begin, they become associated with where they happened, and a strong aversion develops for any location where an attack occurred.

As the number of attacks and associated locations increases, it becomes more difficult to leave home. A person with agoraphobia becomes highly dependent on others and eventually may not even travel without a trusted companion.

Who gets agoraphobia?
One or two people out of a hundred have agoraphobia, which tends to begin in early adulthood, but can appear later in life. Most people with agoraphobia don’t seek treatment until about 10 years after the onset of the disorder. Effective treatment for agoraphobia is available and works best when a person begins treatment early.