Agoraphobia Definition
I got this from Agoraphobia Resource Center and it pretty much explains Agoraphobia perfectly. Mainly because the person who wrote it is a recovering agoraphobic.
"Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder. The term “agoraphobia” comes from the Greek words agora (αγορά), meaning “marketplace,” and phobia (φόβος), meaning “fear.” Literally translated as “fear of the marketplace," people with agoraphobia are afraid of open or public spaces.
In reality, most people with agoraphobia are not so much afraid of open and public places as they are afraid of having a panic attack in these settings, especially settings in which there may be no one to help in the case of a panic attack or actual emergency.
To give you some personal examples, when I had agoraphobia I was afraid of any setting where I felt stuck and thought I might make a fool of myself. I avoided playing baseball because I was afraid of having a panic attack in front of a lot of people and not being able to leave the field. I avoided going to classes because I was afraid my classmates might think I was crazy if I started shaking, sweating and hyperventilating and needed to leave suddenly. During the worst part of agoraphobia, I was afraid to venture anywhere outside of my house.
In settings with people, I was mostly afraid of what others would think if I started to show the outward signs of a panic attack. But I was also deathly afraid of settings without people, such as walking alone in nature or even being left at home by myself. This is because I was obsessively fearful about having a real medical emergency in the absence of others to help.
The symptoms of agoraphobia can make you feel like there is something wrong with your physical body, as if you are having a heart attack or you are choking and unable to breathe. Because of this, I developed a fear of having a medical emergency with no one around to rush me to the hospital.
This fear of being in open spaces with no one around is what sets agoraphobia apart from social anxiety disorder. People with social anxiety disorder are only afraid of situations that include other people. People with agoraphobia are afraid of being anywhere other than their safe place, in the presence or absence of other people."
As you may notice a "safe place" and a fear of showing outward signs of panic is what usually causes someone to panic. Ive read that if a family member has a panic attack then you should try and comfort them but in my case this isnt the case. Id rather be left alone and let me calm down on my own because you trying to comfort me only draws more attention to me panicking. The best way is to just ask your loved one which theyd rather you do. But if they say theyd like to be left alone then please respect there wishes.
Some people have problems figuring out if they have agoraphobia or not and simply put, agoraphobia is avoiding public places for fear of having a panic attack. Thats the simple definition. It is a little deeper than that but thats basically what agoraphobia is. Some may think they dont have agoraphobia because they dont seem to have "panicky" situations in public as often as others but whatever you want to call what you have or whether you consider yourself to have agoraphobia or not, if youre experiencing panic in public such as stores, school, work ect. then if its possible you need to see a doctor as soon as possible to avoid being completely agoraphobic and house-bound. If you still have questions to what agoraphobia is then feel free to email me.