There are many people who are afraid of tangible things like spiders or snakes, but there are other, much more complex types of fear. Today we will talk about an anxiety disorder that causes a lot of discomfort to some people despite the fact that for others it may seem something banal.
Today we will talk about agoraphobia, a fear that some people suffer from being in certain places or situations as we will explain below. We will see what are the symptoms, the causes and the treatment indicated in these cases.
What is agoraphobia?
The etymology of the word agoraphobia is found in the Greek, as it is the combination of two words in this language. In ancient Greece they called public squares “agora”, while “phobia” corresponds to “phobos”, which means fear.
Thus, a first orientation to the meaning of agoraphobia would be something like fear of public spaces Indeed, those who suffer from agoraphobia fear being involved in large spaces with many people around them. These people can suffer very great generalized anxiety and even experience panic attacks.
But the scope of agoraphobia is not limited in this type of situation. This great discomfort can also be experienced in contexts where there are many people in small spaces, for example, like a theater or a restaurant. In reality, any place that is far from the place of security that represents home can become a hostile place that causes this anxiety.
Causes
The person who suffers from agoraphobia suffers alterations in their psychological state due to the anxiety they experience in certain contexts It is necessary to point out that going in train, the theater or even the doctor can cause a whole clinical picture, so it is not correct to conceive agoraphobia as "fear of open spaces".
Although closed spaces generally provide more security for the agoraphobic person, symptoms may also appear that would make them want to leave the place. The thoughts of the agoraphobic person are always more in relation to the possibilities of escaping from the place than in the place itself. The agoraphobic wants to feel that they can easily find refuge in a crisis, and being close to home is the preference.
On the other hand, it is necessary to emphasize that the crowd of people is an important factor. If the person escapes from crowded spaces, they feel safer. This makes the person choose to go to certain places at certain off-peak hours.
Symptoms
Those who suffer from agoraphobia try not to expose themselves to places where they don't feel safe. There they show no fear. But avoidance behavior as such is indeed a clear symptom of this phobia.
Unfortunately, it is difficult for these people to lead a functional life and they suffer from their self-imposed limitations. The world we live in often pushes us to literally get out of our comfort zone.
Agoraphobia is generally explained by a first episode of anxiety in such circumstances in the life of the person affectedThe person at some point in the her life could have had the bad experience of having a panic attack. In such a situation one comes to suffer very high levels of anxiety, being able to faint.
From this personal experience the agoraphobic develops his disorder.From this moment in his life, the fear of suffering a similar situation again seizes the person. The fear of fainting again, of having a heart attack without being helped, and ultimately of losing control or even dying is part of the imaginary of the affected person.
This ends up triggering a physical response in which the body somatizes all these insecurities. Those who suffer from agoraphobia may experience tremors, palpitations, sweating and even vertigo or suffocation.
All psychological symptoms are included in the DSM-5. We highlight these symptoms below:
Treatment
As with other phobias and considering the effectiveness rates, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is postulated as the frame of reference for treating this disorderAlthough there are different ways of approaching this type of case, the main objective is to gradually reduce the avoidance behavior.
This is done through gradual exposure to feared contexts. The therapy tries first of all to discover what the moments in which anxiety appears are like. Treatment then focuses on empowering the person to increase a sense of control in such contexts.
Exposing the person to the feared situation in a gradual and controlled way allows one to face the fears and see that there are no terrible consequences It is necessary experimenting with these trial-error exercises so that all the symptoms associated with thoughts and memory disappear.
In addition to exposing the person to feared situations, techniques that use the imagination also work very well. It is a very recurrent strategy in the initial stages in which the person can see himself in a situation and face her insecurities in her mind.
Little by little the stressor stimulus disappears thanks to these techniques, which are really very effective in many cases.Of course, it is necessary for a professional psychotherapist to conduct the sessions so that the reduction and final extinction of anxiety is a fact. In the end, the patient can return to a normal life, ceasing to compromise his personal, social and professional life.