Symptoms and treatment of Agoraphobia

Description

Agoraphobia (ag-uh-ruh-FOE-be-uh) is a type of anxiety disorder. Agoraphobia involves fear and avoid places or situations that might cause panic and the feeling of being trapped, helpless or embarrassed. It may be that the real fear or similar situation. For example, it may be that the fear of using public transportation, being in open or enclosed spaces, standing in line, or being in a crowd.

The anxiety is caused by fear that there's no easy way to escape or get help if the anxiety becomes overwhelming. You can avoid situations due to fears such as getting lost, falling, or having diarrhea and not being able to get to a bathroom. Most people who have agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks, causing them to worry about having another attack. That, then, avoid the places where it can happen again.

Agoraphobia is often have a hard time feeling safe in any public place, especially where crowds gather, and the places that they are not familiar. You may feel that you need a partner, as a family member or a friend to go with you to public places. The fear can be so overwhelming that you may feel that you can't leave your house.

Agoraphobia, treatment may be difficult because it means confronting her fears. But with the right treatment — usually a type of therapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy and medications — can you escape the trap of agoraphobia and live a more enjoyable life.

Symptoms

Typical agoraphobia symptoms include fear of:

Leaving you alone in the house.
The crowds or waiting in line.
Enclosed spaces such as movie theaters, elevators, or small shops.
Open spaces, such as parking lots, bridges and shopping malls.
The use of public transport such as a bus, plane or train.

These situations cause anxiety because they are afraid of not being able to escape or find help if you start to feel panic. Or you may fear having other disabilities, or embarrassing symptoms, such as dizziness, fainting, falls, or diarrhea.

In addition:

The fear or anxiety is out of proportion to the real danger of the situation.
To avoid the situation, you need a partner to go with you, or you to handle the situation, but are extremely annoying.
Has great suffering or problems with social situations, work or other areas of your life by fear, anxiety or avoidance.
His fear and avoidance usually last for six months or more.

Panic disorder and agoraphobia

Some people who have panic disorder in addition to agoraphobia. Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder, including panic attacks. A panic attack is a sudden feeling of extreme fear that reaches a peak within a couple of minutes and causes a variety of severe physical symptoms. You might think you are totally losing control, having a heart attack or even dying.

The fear of another panic attack can lead to avoid similar situations, or in the place where it happened, in an attempt to prevent future panic attacks.

The symptoms of a panic attack can include:

Rapid heart rate.
Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.
Chest pain or pressure.
Dizziness or lightheadedness.
The feeling of unstable, numbness or a tingling sensation.
Sweating too much.
Sudden hot flashes or chills.
Upset stomach or diarrhea.
Feeling of loss of control.
The fear of death.

When to see a doctor

Agoraphobia can severely limit your ability to socialize, work, attend important events and manage the details of daily life, such as running errands.

Don't let the agoraphobia make your world smaller. Call your health care provider or a mental health professional if you have symptoms of agoraphobia or panic attacks.

Causes

Biology — including the health conditions, and in the genetics of personality, stress, and learning experiences may play a role in the development of agoraphobia.

Risk factors

Agoraphobia may begin in childhood, but usually begins in the late teens or early adult years — usually before the age of 35. But older adults can also develop. Women are diagnosed with agoraphobia more often than men are.

Risk factors for agoraphobia are:

Having a panic disorder or other excessive fear reactions, called phobias.
Responding to the panic attacks and fear avoidance.
Experiencing stressful life events, such as abuse, the death of a parent or being attacked.
Have an anxious or nervous personality.
Having a blood relative with agoraphobia.

Complications

Agoraphobia can greatly limit their activities of daily living. If your agoraphobia is severe, you may not even be able to leave your house. Without treatment, some people become in the house for years. If this happens to you, you may not be able to visit with family and friends, go to school or work, run errands, or take part in other routine daily activities. You may become dependent on others for help.

Agoraphobia may also lead to:

Depression.
Alcohol and drug abuse.
Suicidal thoughts and behavior.

Prevention

There is No sure way to prevent agoraphobia. But the anxiety tends to increase rather than to avoid the situations that you fear. If you start to have a mild fears about going to places that are safe, try to practice to go to these places again and again. This can help you feel more comfortable in those places. If this is too hard to do on your own, ask a family member or friend to go with you, or seek professional help.

If you experience anxiety places to go to, or have panic attacks, get treatment as soon as possible. Get help early to prevent the symptoms from getting worse. Anxiety, like many other mental health conditions, it can be difficult to treat if you wait.

Diagnosis

Agoraphobia is diagnosed based on:

Symptoms.
In-depth interview with your health care provider or a mental health provider.
Physical exam to rule out other conditions that could be causing your symptoms.

Treatment

Agoraphobia, treatment usually includes both psychotherapy, also called talk therapy and medicine. It may take some time, but treatment can help you feel better.

Talk therapy

Psychotherapy involves working with a therapist to set goals and learn practical skills to reduce anxiety symptoms. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most effective form of talk therapy for anxiety disorders, including agoraphobia.

The cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on teaching specific skills to better tolerate the anxiety, to directly challenge their concerns and gradually return to the activities that have been avoided due to the anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy is generally a short-term treatment. Through this process, that their symptoms improve as you build on your initial success.

You can learn:

What factors can trigger a panic attack or panic-like symptoms, and what makes it worse.
How to cope with and tolerate the symptoms of anxiety.
Ways to directly challenge their concerns, as if the bad things are in reality it could happen in social situations.
The anxiety gradually decreases and that he feared that the results do not usually happen if you stay in situations of sufficient time to learn from them.
How to approach the feared and avoided situations in a gradual and predictable, controllable, and repetitively. Also known as exposure therapy, this is the most important part of the treatment of agoraphobia.

If you have trouble leaving your home, you may be wondering how you can go to the office of a therapist. The therapists who treat agoraphobia are aware of this problem.

If you feel you are home because of agoraphobia, look for a therapist who can help you to find alternatives to the bureau of appointments, at least in the first part of the treatment. The therapist can offer to seeing you for the first time in your home or meet with you on what you consider a safe place. Some therapists may also offer some of the sessions by video conference, by telephone, or through e-mail.

If agoraphobia is so severe that you can not get access to care, you can benefit from a more intensive hospital program that specializes in the treatment of anxiety. An intensive outpatient program usually involves going to a clinic or a hospital, either for a half day or full day for a period of at least two weeks to work on skills to better manage your anxiety. In some cases, a residential program may be required. This includes a stay in the hospital for a period of time while you are receiving treatment for severe anxiety.

You may want to take a trusted relative or friend to your appointment, which can offer comfort, help, and training, if necessary.

Medications

Certain types of antidepressants are often used for the treatment of agoraphobia. Sometimes anti-anxiety medications are used on a limited basis. Antidepressants are more effective than drugs for anxiety in the treatment of agoraphobia.

Antidepressants. Certain antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (Ssris), including fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft), is used for the treatment of panic disorder with agoraphobia. Other types of antidepressants also may effectively treat agoraphobia. Antidepressants are also used for other mental health conditions, such as depression.
Anti-anxiety medicine. Anti-anxiety drugs called benzodiazepines are sedatives that, in limited situations, your health care provider may prescribe to relieve the symptoms of anxiety. Benzodiazepines are generally used only on a short-term basis to relieve the anxiety that occurs suddenly, also known as acute anxiety. Because it can be habit-forming, these drugs are not a good option if you have had long-term problems with anxiety or problems of alcohol and drug abuse.

It can take weeks for medications to help control the symptoms. And you may need to try several medications before you find one that works best for you.

Both the start and end of a course of antidepressants can cause side effects that create uncomfortable physical sensations or panic attack symptoms. For this reason, your doctor is probably going to gradually increase the dose during the treatment, and gradually decrease your dose when you are ready to stop taking the medicine.

Alternative medicine

Certain dietary and herbal supplements claim to soothing benefits that reduce anxiety. Before you take any of these for agoraphobia, talk with your health care provider. Although these supplements are available without a prescription, which still pose potential health risks.

For example, the herbal supplement kava, also called kava kava, which seemed to be a promising treatment for anxiety. But there have been reports of serious liver damage, even with short-term use. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings, but did not ban sales in the united States. Avoid any product that contains the cava up to the most rigorous safety studies to make, especially if you have liver problems or take medicines that affect the liver.

Coping and support

Live with agoraphobia can make life difficult and very limiting. Professional treatment can help you overcome this condition, or manage it well so that you don't become a prisoner of his fears.

You can also take these steps to tackle and take care of yourself:

Follow your treatment plan. Keep therapy appointments. Talk regularly with your therapist. The practice and use of the skills learned in therapy. And take your medications as directed.
Try not to avoid the feared situations. It can be difficult to go to places or situations that make you feel uncomfortable or that bring on the symptoms of anxiety. But usually the practice of going to more and more places can make them less scary and decrease their anxiety. Family, friends and your therapist can help you work on this.
Learn calming skills. Working with your therapist, you can learn to calm down, and relieve himself. Meditation, yoga, massage, and visualization are simple relaxation techniques also can help. The practice of these techniques when you're not anxious or worried, and then put them into action in situations of stress.
Avoid alcohol and recreational drugs. Also limit or do not have caffeine. These substances can worsen the symptoms of panic or anxiety.
Take care of yourself. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active each day, and eating a healthy diet, including lots of vegetables and fruits.
Join a support group. Join a support group for people with anxiety disorders can help you connect with other people facing similar challenges and share experiences.

Preparing for your appointment

If you have agoraphobia, you may be too scared or embarrassed to go to your health care provider in the nation. Consider starting with a video of the visit or phone call, and then develop a plan to try to meet in person. You can also ask a trusted family member or friend to go with you to your appointment.

What you can do

To prepare for your appointment, make a list of:

The symptoms I have been experiencing, and for how long.
Things I have left to do or avoid because of their fears.
Key personal information, especially important stress or life changes that I had at the time of their symptoms for the first time.
Medical information, including other physical or mental health conditions you may have.
All the drugs, vitamins, herbs, or other supplements you are taking and the dose.
Questions to ask your doctor or mental health provider , so that you can make the most of your appointment.

Some basic questions to ask include:

What do you think is the cause of my symptoms?
There are other possible causes?
How are you going to decide about my diagnosis?
Is my condition likely temporary or long-term?
What kind of treatment do you recommend?
I have other health problems. Best how can I manage these together?
What is the risk of side effects of the medicine that you are recommending?
There are other options apart from taking drugs?
How soon do you expect my symptoms to improve?
I need to see a mental health professional?
Is there any printed material I can have? What websites do you suggest?

Feel free to ask questions during your appointment.

What to expect from your doctor

Your health care provider or mental health provider will likely ask you a series of questions, such as:

What are the symptoms that concern you?
When did you first notice these symptoms?
When symptoms are more likely to occur?
Nothing seems to make your symptoms better or worse?
Avoid situations or places, because it is afraid that it will cause the symptoms?
How your symptoms are affecting your life and the people closest to you?
Have you been diagnosed with any medical condition?
Have been treated for other mental health conditions in the past? If yes, what was the treatment most beneficial?
Have you ever thought of harming yourself?
Do you drink alcohol or use recreational drugs? What's the frequency?

Be prepared to answer questions, so that you'll have time to talk about what's most important to you.