Before we start our attempt to explain and define agoraphobia, let us show why we decided to talk about it.
We will show the reason in terms of numbers.
We have found a figure that says that agoraphobia rate in the USA is about 1 person in 84 people is managing and dealing with Agoraphobia.
This means that 3.
2 million people in the USA and dealing with Agoraphobia.
Agoraphobia as a disorder is categorized under anxiety disorders in the anxiety DSM IV.
Therefore, it is looked at as one of the types of anxiety.
One simple definition of Agoraphobia that we came across says that this disorder is the fear of open spaces.
Not only we find that this definition is simple in nature, but it also does not give all the dimensions necessary to understand its real scope.
If we dig deeper to find more accurate and elaborate definitions for Agoraphobia disorder we find an explanation that says it is a condition whereby a person suffers from fear of being in places or situations that are outside of their familiar environment.
A person who suffers from Agoraphobia is usually confined to a place and/or person(s) that he is comfortable with and considers as familiar.
Any situation that takes this person from such comfort zones could trigger a panic attack.
Agoraphobics are usually afraid of panic attacks or a single symptom of panic attack to strike while they are in public.
The fear of such embarrassment is seen as the main trigger for this phobia which in turn triggers and feeds the panic attack and its symptoms.
Agoraphobia causes the sufferer to experience high anxiety or panic attacks even when they attempt to carry out normal tasks if these tasks require them to be away from people or places of safety.
Agoraphobics are sometimes divided into two groups: The first group includes Agoraphobics with a history of panic disorders.
The second group includes Agoraphobics without such history.
Yet most people who are Agoraphobic belong to the group with the history of panic disorder.
There is a school of thought that says that all anxiety related disorders lie in one place.
This place is called the Amygdala.
The Amygdala is a small organ in the subconscious brain.
This organ is said to be responsible for many emotional decisions including the anxiety response.
There are programs that are based on the above belief and they treat Agoraphobia by treating the sufferer from anxiety in general rather treating the specific anxiety type which is in this case Agoraphobia.
Such programs believe that general anxiety is the source of such types of anxiety and therefore, prefer to treat the source and not the branch.