Agoraphobia Essay

This specific phobia can lead to the person experience of an intense fear when not being able to break out of a populated area (Barlow & Mavissakalian, pp 4). This causes people having to evade open and heavily crowed environments with little possibilities to exit over their massive fear of going through a panic attack. Therefore, today there are signs in many rides at themed parks that warn people of the closed areas. This specific category of phobias causes the person to fear traveling on bus or even waiting in a line. This phobia can also lead to being dependent of someone because they are too afraid to go outside of their homes. Barlow & Mavissakalian (1981 pp 4-5), implicated that the clinical picture painted is consistent and consists or fears of going out to public places and open and crowded places, fears of walking alone or using any means or public transportation, and fears of being alone at home. Agoraphobia is the most disabling of all phobias and usually begins in early adolescence.

Persistent concern about having additional attacksb. Worry about the implications of the attack or its consequences(e.g., losing control, having a heart attack, “going crazy”)c. A significant change in behavior related to the attacksB. The presence (or absence) of Agoraphobia.C. The Panic Attacks are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).D. The Panic Attacks are not better accounted for by another mental disorder, such as Social Phobia (e.g., occurring on exposure to feared social situations), Specific Phobia (e.g., on exposure to a specific phobic situation), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (e.g., on exposure to dirt in someone with an obsession about contamination), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (e.g., in response to stimuli associated with a severe stressor), or Separation Anxiety Disorder (e.g., in response to being away from home or close relatives).(APA, 2000)

A phobic disorder is marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Agoraphobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety occasioned by the prospect of having to enter certain outdoor locations or open spaces. For example, busy streets, busy stores, tunnels, bridges, public transportation and cars. Traditionally agoraphobia was solely classified as a phobic disorder. However, due to recent studies it is now also viewed as a panic disorder. Panic disorders are characterised by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly (Weiten, 1998).

Agoraphobia is a strong fear and anxiety of being in places where it may be hard to escape or even where help may not be available (medlineplus.gov/ency/article). People that normally tend to have this fear try to avoid public places in that they may feel there would be a very difficult way in them trying to escape. In turn, this does make them have panic attacks

Phobic disorders are objects, places, things that people develop a fear of that are not realistically dangerous. People often develop this usually from one past experience. Many people have arachnophobia, acrophobia, claustrophobia, and hydrophobia. There is some strange phobias that people develop like homophobia, fear of long words, fear of popping balloons and fear that somewhere a duck is watching you. I don’t know if it was from when I was a child but I fear that people are going to let go of their balloons or pop them, which is very strange. My friend has agoraphobia which greatly affected her social life, and only last year got over it to find a job and be able to shop by herself. I used to have to drag her into town when I needed to go and if she saw someone we knew she would hide, and would even run out of the store.

Causes: There is no known specific cause for Agoraphobia, but there are some different theories. One theory is that it may be genetic and could run in a family. Another theory is that one develops it through a personal experience. This irrational fear may stem from a previous, damaging experience that occurred in a public or open place. This would lead to bad feelings or memories and anxiety of something else similar happening. The phobia may also be somatic, meaning that one will assume anxiety will accompany a situation, so anxiety really does follow. These symptoms are caused by thoughts and worries that are consciously and purposefully thought about, but not intended to cause problems, though they do.

Panic disorder and agoraphobia are two separate disorders that often go hand in hand with each other. An individual can be diagnosed with panic disorder, but a diagnosis without agoraphobia can often take place as well. Some individuals develop symptoms of agoraphobia, but do not have the classic panic disorder symptoms, hence the reason they are both listed as separate disorders in the DSM-5. Panic disorder can be identified as “recurrent unexpected panic attacks. A panic attack is an abrupt surge of intense fear or intense discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes, and during which time four or more physical and cognitive characteristics take place (Hooley, J. 2017, pg.188).” When dealing with panic disorder it can often become debilitating, due to the fact that the individual does not know when the onset of an attack will occur. Individuals with panic disorder more commonly develop agoraphobia as a comorbid disorder, and if left untreated, can have a difficult time even leaving their home. Agoraphobia can be defined as “the individual fears or avoids

Psychological Explanations of One Anxiety Disorder Phobias are an example of an anxiety disorder and the psychological explanations of these are cognitive, psychodynamic, behavioral and social factors. The Behavioral, Psychodynamic and social factors of the psychological explanation will be discussed in greater detail. Behavioral explanations say that all behaviour is learnt whether it is normal or abnormal and this approach has been applied to humans and animals.

This paper is going to be about anxiety disorders. I am going to explain what anxiety is and the different types of anxiety disorders. The types of anxiety I am going to talk about are Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress, Panic Disorder and Social Phobia.

What is Anxiety? As defined by Understanding Psychology by Glencoe, Anxiety is a general state of dread or uneasiness that a person feels in response to a real or imagined danger. Anxiety affects 19 million Americans annually and anxiety disorder happens to be the most common mental illness in America. There are many different types of anxiety disorder such as: Panic Disorder, Obsessive – Compulsion Disorder, Phobias, and a few more. Although there is no cure for anxiety disorders, there are treatments to reduce symptoms.

According to the DSM, the major symptoms of Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia are, recurrent panic attacks and enduring anxiety about experiencing another panic attack. The individual is also anxious about going places where escape might be difficult or embarrassing, or where they will be unable to receive assistance in case of emergency.

Many people feel apprehensive and miserable every now and then, but when does it take over their whole lives? Losing a loved one, doing poorly in school or work, being bullied and other hardships might lead a person to feel sad, lonely, scared, nervous and/or anxious. Some people experience this on an everyday basis, sometimes even or no reason at all. Those people might have an anxiety disorder, depression, or both. It is highly likely for someone with an anxiety disorder to also be suffering from depression, or the other way around. 50% of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

The Social anxiety Association classifies social anxiety as the fear of interacting with other and social situations. Social anxiety causes fear and anxiety in most if not all aspects of ones lives. Social anxiety is the fear of being negatively judge or evaluated by others. It is a chronic disease that it does not go away on its own, only direct cognitive-behavioral therapy can help people overcome their social anxiety. There are a few situations that can trigger social anxiety such as being introduced to

One of the types of psychological disorders is anxiety disorders. These disorders are broken down into five categories: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). All of these categories describe disorders in which a person displays extreme fear or nervousness. People will become afraid of objects, social situations, animals, reliving traumatic events, or many other things. People suffering from

Agoraphobia could be a result of previously repressed emotional problems, such as a death of a loved-one or any type of abuse. The fear of some situations is learned. After feeling uneasy in one situation someone might think they will get the same feeling next time. this is classified on the DSM-IV it is an excessive or unrealistic worry about life circumstances.