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Agoraphobia is very often a misunderstood illness with many people thinking
that it means a person has a fear of going out in a busy crowded place;
however, the clinical definition of the illness means a fear of being
in any situation in which the person cannot escape or flee when they have
a feeling of panic set in. In order to understand and treat the illness
one has to first understand the context of panic disorder.
Agoraphobia is termed as being one of several anxiety disorders and while
it more commonly seen alongside panic disorder it can occur without, about
one third of people who suffer from panic disorder will eventually go
on to suffering from agoraphobia.
However if the panic disorder is diagnosed and treated properly agoraphobia
can be avoided, unfortunately many people don't see their symptoms as
panic or an anxiety disorder and it can go undetected for many years.
How the cycle begins
Agoraphobia can develop as quickly as after having the very first panic
attack, perhaps the easiest way to describe this would be to give the
example of a person in a car being sat in a traffic jam on the motorway.
There are cars stretched out in front of you and behind you for miles
and there is nowhere to go, out of the blue, you get a hot flush, tightness
in your chest and a feeling of dread.
You cannot explain this feeling of dread it just feels like something
really bad is going to happen, your heart starts palpitating and your
chest tightens with a feeling of not being able to get a deep breath.
You just have the feeling you need to get out of here but of course, there
is nowhere to go, and you're stuck.
Many people think they are having a heart attack or something just as
serious, however it is nothing more than the flight or fight response
and the feelings are nothing more than adrenaline coursing through your
body. If you take no notice of them, they disappear and that's the last
you see of it, if you worry about it then you begin to enter a continual
cycle of releasing adrenaline which causes the feelings, which then releases
more adrenaline and so on.
The attack could have been so severe that the person will then come to
avoid places where they might get stuck in traffic jams and even go several
miles out of the way to avoid them; eventually they might even come to
not use the car at all.
How to avoid agoraphobia and panic disorder
The person could then go onto having panic attacks in almost any place
and anywhere at anytime and so eventually they avoid going out of the
home at all. This can be avoided easily had the person not reacted to
their feelings in the first place; it is easy to see why the attack happened
in the first place.
The person probably wanted to get somewhere on time and of course being
stuck in traffic and clearly not being able to get there on time impatience
builds up. The car might have been hot and stuffy which brings a feeling
of being closed in, all of these help to bring on the tightness in the
chest and light-headedness that might have been felt.
The person giving the feelings too much thought and seeing something in
them that wasn't there brought about the attack. If the person had just
wound down the window a little to let air in the car, put the radio on
and took a deep breath and thought well I'm stuck here for a while there's
nothing I can do about it, then the feeling of panic that was building
up would have dissipated and disappeared.
If the person had just waited the jam out and then drove home without
giving the episode any more thought then panic attacks and agoraphobia
wouldn't have got a grip on them, it's as simple as that.
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