Agoraphobia. Such a debilitating little nuisance. Sorry, did I say little? I meant massive. Massive nuisance. It mentally and physically drains those it affects, and is strengthened by the natural human reaction to fear-inducing stimuli. Agoraphobia is, quite broadly, the fear of your surrounding environment. Stemming from the Greek "fear of the marketplace", people with this phobia often avoid people, situations, and locations that cause them to feel fear. Agoraphobia is typically onset following one or two panic attacks; usually striking when you are back in the scenario you had the previous attack. So how do you know if you suffer from agoraphobia, or if it is just a legitimate response to a genuinely unsafe situation?
Here are the top 5 signs you may suffer from Agoraphobia:
1) You frequently feel trapped by your environment. Even when you're outside.
Think of this as a more severe case of claustrophobia, where one feels trapped in small spaces. Even worse, agoraphobia can make you feel trapped in any environment. You may find yourself always booking an aisle seat on the plane, sitting near the exit in a movie theater, and needing to be near an exit at a music festival, or even just being away from the crowd in general. People with agoraphobia have almost a compulsive need to know where the exits are during any occasion.
2) You find yourself not wanting to drive down a certain road.
Remember where you were when you found out the worst news of your life? Or perhaps you sneezed while driving once, swerved into the next lane, and narrowly missed hitting a truck? Many things can cause a perfectly natural stress response, but what if it haunted you every time you visited the location where 'it happened'? Agoraphobia tends to play with our nervous system when certain memories surface. This can be so severe that the person suffers subsequent panic attacks when put back at the scene of the original panic episode.
3) Seeing the danger in everything.
Although you know it's unlikely that you will fall down a well, your baby will be carried away by a hawk, or you will get your high heel stuck in a grate while a taxi is speeding toward you (too many J. Lo movies?), you still have the persistent fear that it will happen to you. Essentially, you live in the world of Murphy's Law- anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And you fear you will have no way to get help.
4) Avoiding activities that may cause physiological sensations.
You go for a jog, and notice you can't easily catch your breath. And your heart is pounding well after you slow down. Suddenly you start to panic, and wonder if you are having a heart attack. Sufferers of agoraphobia are more likely to suffer from hypochondria as well, and you may decide to refrain from this type of exercise in the future to avoid these 'scary' sensations (which you assume are surely not normal- they are). Other types of sensations may also keep you from normal activities, for example: avoiding rollercoasters because you are scared you will become dizzy, refraining from public speaking for fear your body will break out in a sweat and tremble, or finding alternative transportation methods because you might get a queasy stomach if someone else is at the wheel. Hypochondriacal tendencies can lead to avoidance of activities; characteristic of agoraphobia sufferers.
5) Catastrophizing.
The belief that something mundane is far worse than it actually is. Catastrophizing is a common component to agoraphobia. It is a type of unwanted or intrusive negative thought pattern that affects the way you see and interact with the world. Imagine if someone with agoraphobia found themselves in any of the above situations. Not only would they likely experience panic (until they work on exposure therapy), but they would actually assess the situation much differently than someone without anxiety would. Do you ever assess a situation or predict an outcome with it being the worst possible scenario? You may be catastrophizing.
*If any of the above sounds like you or anyone you know, consider talking to a doctor or therapist to discuss ways to work on combating negative thought patterns. You can also find more insight at MentalHealth.gov and Mental Health America.