Agoraphobia is the phobia defined by the clinic named Mayo clinic that is a fear of unreasonable and overwhelming, a legitimate danger that does not precisely pose any danger. An individual with Agoraphobia in which he or she has a fear of spiders, which is an occurrence, grieves from this disorder identified as arachnophobia.
However, jokers’ terror is too common in grown people and kids and is recognized as coulrophobia.
Mostly, Agoraphobia is primarily meaningless, but in most cases, this anxiety may severely act because it will affect more people’s lives. In the spider s’ fear, show for some time it might be screaming, like when we observe the one, or we avoid the places where there is a place where spiders live, the areas like the basements or the cave in the wilderness.
Some of the individual who is having a fear of the clowns they avoid places like the circus. Agoraphobia is somehow a disorder like anxiety.
Agoraphobia is considered anxiety that they are in a condition that might make them panic, which comes under the condition that shows a phobia or fear. There are a lot of different types of phobias, but most people only think of phobias involving their homes or places that they commonly go to.
When you get a real phobia, you have a fear of going somewhere in particular, or you are afraid of being alone in a certain place for a long period of time. This is called a phobia. For example, people who are afraid of water have a phobia when they are in a swimming pool.
Agoraphobia is the fear of anything or danger which is real but does not entail a real threat to the patient’s life.
Understanding Panic Attacks?
You might have encountered Agoraphobia if you’ve ever been in an extremely tense environment, such as a car crash. Your heartbeat is rising, you’re afraid, and you’re having trouble breathing. When somebody has a panic disorder, they may have panic attacks that they are unable to describe. People feel as if they’re going crazy, regardless of the circumstances even in circumstances that shouldn’t trigger anxiety in the first place. They can also encounter panic-like physical effects. All these panic attacks are due to Agoraphobia disorder.
Sing and The Symptoms of The Agoraphobia
An individual with Agoraphobia may have panic attacks due to some situations involving how they interact with the people in their environment. Fear of being alone in public, fear of crowds, feeling powerless in circumstances where they might not be able to escape on their own (such as an aeroplane or train), and, of course, panic attacks as a result of these situations are all signs of Agoraphobia disorder. Some Agoraphobia patients avoid these situations by refusing to leave their homes for extended periods, even years.
Causes of The Agoraphobia
The precise cause of Agoraphobia, like many panic disorders and phobias, is unknown.
According to PubMed Health, some experts believe panic is a learned trait. A person may have had a traumatic experience in a specific location, such as a shopping mall, and as a result, they develop a fear of that location, which may result in a panic attack. When his or her panic attacks escalate, they can become ashamed or afraid of having an outburst in public, leading to Agoraphobia.
A phobia is a fear. It is not the same as a panic attack. A panic attack is when you experience intense symptoms that come on suddenly, usually all at once. A phobia is something that start gradually over a period of time and only comes on when you are about to go somewhere. People with agoraphobia start to experience these symptoms all of the time, even when they are just going out of their own minds.
Understanding agoraphobia can help you learn how to overcome your phobia. You will learn techniques that will relax you when you are about to leave home. You will learn techniques that can help you reduce the panic attack symptoms that you feel when you are about to leave home.
Purpose of Treating Agoraphobia
A website called Psychology Today, makes it clear that there are two main types of treatment options for those suffering from agoraphobia, including the use of medicines, and the use of verbal counseling and counseling services.
Antidepressants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are two types of medications that can be used to treat anxiety or depression. Tricyclic antidepressants also come in the form of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), although their use has decreased recently.
There are pros and cons to each of the medicines, so it is imperative for each individual to undergo a medical examination prior to being prescribed a medicine.
A benzodiazepine is an effective type of anxiety medication for those suffering from anxiety and Agoraphobia. There are several types of drugs, including Clonazepam, Lorazepam, and Alprazolam, which will help with your anxiety, although if you are seeking more strength, these drugs are more dangerous.
Anti-anxiety drugs are given to agoraphobic patients to alleviate their symptoms as well as give them some relief from their agoraphobia symptoms. According to theory, people who undergo cognitive behavioral therapy can reduce their anxiety and develop into more confident individuals, so they gain the confidence to go outside or attend social events with their friends, families, or colleagues.
According to the theory based on the research work related to Agoraphobia: that this type of reduction in the panic situation and the anxiety will give the persons a free hand to freely participate in their daily life activities as other ordinary peoples do. Things like; leaving one alone at home and attending all the social events with the loved ones and the friends who are the same as family.
Psychology Today explained that for phobia of Agoraphobia, there are two of the essential primary treatments. The first treatment of Agoraphobia involves certain types of medicines for controlling the symptoms.
If someone faces and hurts from the dual diagnosis of Agoraphobia and drug abuse, then the medication used will be benzodiazepines, which will be riskier and acceptable. On the other hand, when someone has a treatment that doesn’t involve any medication, it is known as non-medication-oriented treatments. For example, the CBT theory, which stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, is primarily used in these conditions.
Working of The CBT
The therapy named cognitive behavioural therapy can help someone sufferings from a phobia called Agoraphobia. CBT is a critical theory in which we need to understand that there is the basic process for the treatments, which are the ones which we can undergo through the treatment process. The first and primary step is the concerns that the cognitive functions of human psychology. The mental states that through these patterns, specifically, directs the human being and individual perception.
However, human behaviour mentions to how they react to all the thoughts then actions grounded on their responses.
Let’s take an example that as an individual is about phobia named as the Agoraphobia, they might have a phobia that involves that some of the persons leave their house to check the mailbox whether there is a mail or not. To get that mails from the mailbox, what the individual has to do is that they have to walk through and cross am expanse of the widely opened lawn, enabling the individual to see the view that involves all the thought of his/her neighbours.
On the other hand, agoraphobia is a phobia in which the person may fear that people are watching them and judging them, making the person panic when he is crossing the expanse of the lawn. This panic may involve that it will be the severe form that results in the panic attacks that will automatically make the long and time consuming for the one in checking the mails because of the fear of people he or she received in the mailbox. It will involve all of the efforts as well.
Helping Individual Through CBT
Following are how CBT will be helping the individuals Agoraphobia:
- CBT can help in examining the process that neighbours are watching them.
- CBT can help the individuals with Agoraphobia issues that understand the resulting panic attacks is not that it’s a life-threatening on the level of physical one tat it sometimes considers as a heart attack
- CBT can give the individuals the tool that will help them to leave there homes/ houses in a way that they follow a technique that will get them ready to go outside again without any fearCBT can help the tailored to the persons for the specific situation and the events of life
Benefits of The CBT Cognitive-Behavioural Therapists Regarding Agoraphobia
It is important that you know that a person in Agoraphobia who receives a talk-based approach to therapy will benefit more than a person who receives a non-talk based approach. According to a study conducted by the National Association Cognitive Behavioral Therapists, Cognitive Behavior Therapy can be implemented over a shorter period of time with Psychological Tests for Specific Behaviors (TST) and the Treatment for Specific Behaviors (TST) in adults.
The CBT offers approximately 16 sessions as an average number, versus years of the traditional therapy. During this, the therapy process is that the therapists usually work in a way that the therapists and the patients of Agoraphobia are working as a partner. While during this type of partnership, the patients with Agoraphobia are asked to question and answer them honestly.
Let’s take an example of the person in Agoraphobia who’s the partner with the therapists. Then, the individual will experience a situation in which he feels panic because this individual is having a fear of the neighbour that is watching him/her and judging in a way that they are spying. At the same time, they walk from their homes to the mailbox, where the individual will cross and then reach the box where mails are there. This might happened that the neighbours from their windows are watching him/her instead of the mail delivery persons.
Treatment for The Addicted Individuals of The Agoraphobia
Throughout the research, it is clear that the person can be anytime addicted or suffer through the other conditions while having a dual diagnosis. It is imperative that can treat both of the states in which the individuals are addicted at the same time. Will give simultaneous treatment to the individual who is suffering from the two addictions, such as addiction and Agoraphobia. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, this treatment will be much more effective for the person who suffers; the National Institute on Drug Abuse share this process and techniques. Its nit is considered an essential or necessary matter in which the conditions occurred by the first process. The first treatment process is that the addiction or the individual who’s suffering is having which type of diseases should address it before the physical disease of addiction.
An important example we can quote here is that if the individual is having or addicted to drugs or alcohol or other things, he/she will consider the individual who self-medicated their Agoraphobia, which shows that the individual will be the one who retains the substances that abuse during the treatment.
If you are ready to get the co-occurring disorders state be treated then ask yourself these questions.
- Would the service have the requisite expertise to support Dual Diagnosis patients?
- Is the hospital’s care regimen tailored to the requirements of each case and flexible enough to adapt as the sufferer’s needs changes?
- Is there any fact-based therapy in the recovery plan, such as CBT?
- Is the recovery program long enough to meet my immediate requirements and treatment goals?
- Is there a 12-step plan of rehabilitation incorporated into the entire package?
Though the symptoms that the individual has and occur in an environment that is not in the individual’s control, they do the self-medication to abusing drugs, alcohol, and other stuff repeatedly to hide the symptoms. On the same side, the simple treatment of Agoraphobia, with the medicines that have an effective and shows promising results that will not be able to address the physical diseases of addiction.
Kindly reach us by phone right away if you’ve any doubts or complaints about Dual Diagnosis to help you tackle not only a drug dependency problem but also a panic condition or agoraphobia. We have the knowledge and skills to help you get out of the Agoraphobia challenge and start living in a world free of the devastation of abuse and addiction.
We recommend that you discuss your concerns and questions regarding Dual Diagnosis Treatment with us today in order to overcome not only a problem with substance abuse, but also a problematic relationship with your substance abuse and treat depression as well. People don’t have to be afraid, and they don’t have to stay silent if they are currently suffering from Agoraphobia. Our experts have the knowledge and skills necessary for you to break free from fears of addiction and relapse, and to live in freedom from a life of fear and dependency. We are here to help you break free of fears and live a life that is free from addiction and chemical dependency. Now is the time to call and let us challenge your Agoraphobia.
Ben Lesser is one of the most sought-after experts in health, fitness and medicine. His articles impress with unique research work as well as field-tested skills. He is a freelance medical writer specializing in creating content to improve public awareness of health topics. We are honored to have Ben writing exclusively for Dualdiagnosis.org.