There are many people who are afraid of tangible things like spiders or snakes, but there are other types of fear that are much more complex. Today we will talk about an anxiety disorder that generates a lot of discomfort for some people even though for others it may seem banal.
Today we will talk about agoraphobia, a fear that some people suffer when being in certain places or situations. as we will explain below. We will see what are the symptoms, causes and treatment indicated in these cases.
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What is agoraphobia?
The etymology of the word agoraphobia is found in Greek, as it is the combination of two words in this language. In ancient Greece, public squares were called “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 to be involved in large spaces with many people around them. These people may suffer from very high generalized anxiety and even experience panic attacks.
But the scope of agoraphobia is not limited to this type of situation. This great discomfort can also be experienced in contexts where there are many people in confined spaces, for example, in a theater or a restaurant. In fact, any place that is far from the place of security that represents the home can become a hostile place that provokes this anxiety.
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Causes
The person who suffers from agoraphobia suffers alterations in his psychological state due to the anxiety he experiences in certain contexts.. It is necessary to point out that going by train, to the theater or even to the doctor can cause a whole clinical picture, so it is not correct to conceive agoraphobia as “fear of open spaces”.
Although enclosed spaces generally give more security to the agoraphobic person, the symptomatology that would make him/her want to leave the place may also appear. The agoraphobic person’s thoughts are always more related to the possibilities of escaping the place than to the place itself. The agoraphobic wants to feel that he/she can find refuge easily in case of crisis, and being close to home is the preference.
On the other hand, it should be noted that crowds of people are an important factor. If the person escapes from crowded spaces, he/she feels safer. This makes the person choose to go to certain places at certain off-peak hours.
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Symptoms
People who suffer from agoraphobia try not to expose themselves to places where they do not feel safe.. There they do not manifest fears. But avoidance behavior as such is 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 literally out of our comfort zone.
Agoraphobia is usually explained by a first episode of anxiety in such circumstances in the life of the affected person.. The person at some point in his life may have had the bad experience of living 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 on, the fear of suffering a similar situation again takes hold of 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 affected person’s imaginary.
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.
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All the symptomatology at the psychological level is listed in the DSM-5.. We highlight below such symptoms:
- Great fear or anxiety in more than one of the following five situations: use of public transport, enclosed spaces, open spaces, having to wait and queue, and being alone and far from home.
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The agoraphobic person escapes from such situations by having thoughts that relate to the possible difficulty in leaving the place where he/she is.
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The affected person assumes that he/she can easily present panic or other symptoms leading to an uncomfortable or incapacitating situation.
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Not knowing the area in which one is is always a source of anxiety.
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It is important to be accompanied by someone to avoid all these thoughts.
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The situation does not generate the real danger felt by the person, there being a very noticeable disproportion.
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The person’s normal way of functioning is affected, which may have repercussions in the social or professional area.
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The described symptomatology remains for 6 months or more.
Treatment
As with other phobias and considering the effectiveness rates, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is postulated as the reference framework for treating this disorder.. Although there are different ways of approaching this type of cases, the main objective is to gradually reduce the avoidant behavior.
This is done through gradual exposure to the feared contexts. The therapy first of all tries to find out what the moments in which the anxiety appears are like. Then the treatment focuses on empowering the person to increase the sense of control in such contexts.
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Exposing the person to the situation he/she fears in a gradual and controlled way allows him/her to face fears and see that there are no terrible consequences.. It is necessary to experiment with these trial-and-error exercises so that all the associated symptomatology caused by thoughts and memory disappears.
In addition to exposing the person to the feared situations, techniques that use the imagination also work very well. It is a very recurrent strategy in initial stages in which the person can see himself in the situation and face his insecurities in his mind.
Little by little the stressful stimulus disappears thanks to these techniques, which are really very effective in many cases. However, it is necessary that a professional psychotherapist conducts the sessions so that the reduction and eventual extinction of anxiety is a fact. At the end the patient can return to a normal life, ceasing to compromise the personal, social and professional life.
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