Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer
3K
3K
740
3K
Menu
Menu
static-img
Agoraphobia – The Fear of Inescapable Situations
Situational Phobias

Agoraphobia: The Fear of Inescapable Situations

Share This Article
Share Post

Agoraphobia: A Common Phobia

Do you start sweating the moment you need to step out of your house alone?

You do whatever you can to bring a friend along with you. But even then, you can’t let go of them for a second, fearing they might not be around when you need them.

Do you constantly fear being in an embarrassing situation that you cannot get out of?

If you relate to either of these scenarios, you may be suffering from agoraphobia. Though agoraphobia is a fear of inescapable situations, the disorder itself is escapable.

But to control and overcome it, we first need to understand what agoraphobia is and what’s causing it.

Common Agoraphobia Causes

Agoraphobia usually starts to show during the teenage years. Here are some of the most common agoraphobia causes:

Incidences of panic attacks in public
When someone has a panic attack in public, they can develop agoraphobia. The episode itself, the place, and the setting it happened in now becomes the focus of the anxiety and prevents the person from venturing out alone.

Genetics and anxiety disorders
A genetic disorder or medical condition could put a person at risk for developing anxiety disorders like agoraphobia. For example, IBS or asthma. Biological imbalance of the fight or flight hormone, adrenaline, or neurotransmitter issues can also be the reason why your response to stressful situations becomes worrisome.

Environmental factors
This is one of the most obvious agoraphobia causes. If the person has lived in an abusive environment or lost a loved one very early in life, then it could manifest in a fear of uncontrollable situations. Agoraphobics try to avoid unpredictable situations because of fear from a past event that is deeply rooted in their memory.

Below are some situations that trigger a panic attack in an agoraphobic:

  • Open spaces
  • Enclosed public spaces
  • Being alone outside the house
  • Crowded public spaces
  • Stressful situations in public

The fear intensifies as triggers start to cause panic attacks each time the individual goes outside.

Almost Everything You Need to Know about Agoraphobia

What is agoraphobia? The word agora means “marketplace” and phobia means “fear.” However, agoraphobia cannot be defined as simply as a fear of public spaces. Agoraphobia is a fear of inescapable situations or places where the person feels out of control or unable to escape.

Agoraphobics usually exhibit ‘avoidance behavior’. The person perceives the situation as something unpleasant and decides they need to avoid it. This causes them to minimize their engagement with the outside world. They start staying home and structuring their lives to reduce contact with the outside world. If they do have to step outside their comfort space, they will plan the route they need to take, the place they need to go to, and the person they can take along with them.

They try to eliminate any surprises that may come their way, giving them a sense of control and reducing the chances of any embarrassing situations. They take someone along with them practically as a human shield, so that they have a way out if the situation calls for it.

Females are more likely to have agoraphobia than males. According to statistics, 3.4% of female adolescents have experienced agoraphobia at some point in their lives. That number drops to 1.4% in males. It ranks in the top ten most common phobias around the world.

There is no one answer to what is agoraphobia. There are many types of agoraphobia based on factors like a response to triggers, stress level, and the space or situation.

Symptoms of Agoraphobia

Physical symptoms of agoraphobia might only show up when the person is placed in a stressful situation. Whereas mental/emotional symptoms can appear at any triggering event.

Physical Symptoms

  • Difficulty in breathing/hyperventilating
  • Feeling nauseous or sick
  • Rapid heart rate
  • Dizziness
  • Trembling or shaking
  • Sweating
  • Feeling lightheaded or fainting
  • Upset stomach or diarrhea
  • Panic attack

Mental/Emotional Symptoms

  • Fear of leaving home
  • Thoughts of being forced out of the house
  • Fear of embarrassing yourself in public
  • Fear of crowded spaces
  • Fear of standing in lines or waiting in a public space

Mental and emotional symptoms are because of the stress associated with the situation and not the situation itself.

 

How Do You Deal with Agoraphobia?

There is no simple way to deal with agoraphobia. The symptoms may be unmanageable and stop you from enjoying the things you like. Your outdoor activity may decrease, and you may fear situations that could be unpredictable.

While your fear is rational, you also know that the problems it causes cannot be avoided. Which means dealing with it alone is not enough. Thankfully, it can be treated. All you need is a plan, some practice, and perhaps some professional advice.

 

Self-Help: What Can You Do to Help Yourself?

Agoraphobia treatments don’t just include the management of physical symptoms, but also the mental and emotional ones. You may need to seek professional help and make some lifestyle changes. If you’re worried about seeking professional help right away, then you could start with some self-help exercises to treat agoraphobia at home.

Lifestyle changes
The biggest change you can make is being present. Fear can cause us to distance ourselves from the present situation into the past or the perceived future. To undo this, try mindfulness exercises. Remind yourself that you are safe in the present moment and the threat is irrational or only imagined.

Diet and exercise
This is a big part of agoraphobia treatment. Exercise also forms part of your lifestyle and a daily walk with a friend can open you to recovery.  Additionally, you should reduce the number of stimulants you consume, such as tea, coffee, alcohol, or drugs. Try to include something healthier in your diet instead.

Breathing
Phobia or fear is closely associated with the way you breathe. This is why if you can breathe well, you can better calm yourself down. Try to practice breathing as a regular exercise at home. Then try to use breathing to calm yourself while thinking of the triggers.

Relaxation
When you think about the triggers, try to also think rationally and relax. Not just your breath but also your thoughts. Train your mind into thinking that going out alone is a regular, normal, and safe activity—and it will start perceiving it that way. Work on your approach, it will take you a long way.

Get to know your fear better
Agoraphobia treatment will be more effective once you know what caused the phobia. Dig deep into your brain for when you started to develop the fear and why. Was it an event from your past? Your environment?

These questions are also common to psychotherapy, but answering them yourself could help you get clues into what causes the panic/stress and help you avoid the triggers until you get professional help.

Professional Help for Agoraphobia: Options Available

Getting professional help for agoraphobia may involve medication and therapy.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT works to find a cause, common behavior, and coping mechanisms around the fear. The professional then helps you use your logic and reasoning to deal with the cause. This ultimately reduces your level of fear response until you no longer need to fear going outside.

Medication
If a hormonal imbalance is the reason for your fear responses, then medication could be helpful. By putting your biology back on track, your mind may respond to situations more calmly and naturally.

Learning to Cope with Agoraphobia

It may take time to treat, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to better cope with agoraphobia.

Try going out with your friends on short trips near your house in lesser crowded hours and areas. The more pleasant encounters you have, the more your fear goes away. Also try having an open discussion with a close friend. It can help you rationalize your fear about any situation.

And remember: even though you locked yourself in and away from the world, it’s still open to accepting you back when you’re ready. When you do step out, know you are not alone, and the situation is not beyond your control.

Stories Submitted by Our Readers

Agoraphobia

This may sound strange, if I’m invited to go any place with family or friends I come up with some excuse because I’m scared that something could happen. If I’m indoors or with only one person, I don’t feel like I’m going to die.
Cathy
I can’t go outside, or I am afraid I will die unless someone is with me. I stay inside all the time. I only go grocery shopping with my mom or dad.
Sydney

My fear is so bad of open areas, that I cannot have the room to my door open. My mom thinks I just want privacy. When she comes into chat and leaves without closing my door, I get a bit of a panic attack until I shut the door.
Angie

SUBMIT YOUR STORY

FearAZ.com is looking for personal stories of any 'fear of' or phobia. If you have an interesting story you'd like to share, we welcome your submission. If the story fits with our content and guidelines, we'll add it to our site.
0LikesShare Post

Your Fear Goes Up and Down

Are you someone who would rather climb the stairs than take the elevator? You call it squeezing in a workout after being sedentary the whole morning. Or perhaps you claim it's a faster route. These are both typical, normal, and acceptable reasons. But what if you need to be in the conference room on the eleventh floor in five minutes, and you're wearing your business suit and wingtips? Would you still prefer to take the stairs? If your answer is yes, then maybe it's time to take a closer look at your reasons for avoiding elevators. Elevators stir all sorts of emotions in passengers. From the discomfort of closeness to strangers to the sensations in our gut, elevators can be a source of the heebie-jeebies for many, but for some, they can also be a source of terror. Let's dig a little deeper into the latter, and see what this terror is all about and what can be done to manage it. To begin with, does being inside an elevator give you chills or the sweats? Or does it trigger an unpleasant memory? Perhaps you remember movies you've watched where something terrible happens inside an elevator. From Silence of the Lambs, The Shining, Final Destination 2, or the king of all elevator horror films, 2010’s Devil, the elevator becomes witness to something sinister and horrible. And you want nothing to do with any of it. You know that you're not claustrophobic. You can deal with heights just fine, too. And you know that you're not going to be trapped inside. All of these contribute to a fear of elevators—but they don't apply to you. Yet being inside one does something to you. It's hard to explain.

What is the Fear of Elevators Called?

What you have is a fear of elevators, which is called elevatophobia. It is most commonly triggered by an experience of getting stuck inside either due to a power outage or technical maintenance. Hearing about other people's experiences or watching a movie about similar circumstances can prompt a fear of elevators getting stuck with you inside. Usually, claustrophobics and agoraphobics may also develop elevatophobia because the triggers and objects of these fears are related. Claustrophobia is the fear of closed and cramped spaces, while agoraphobia is the fear of being trapped without any means of escape. Put the two together, and the elevator becomes the perfect combination of both phobias. The space is limited and closed, with only one means of entry and exit. You can add another point of access if you consider climbing the cables like they do in the movies, but that certainly isn't ideal.

Symptoms of Elevatophobia

If for some reason an elevator stops due to an outage or some technical difficulty, passengers with elevatophobia may go into full panic mode. Even if the maintenance team advises that it will just be a matter of minutes, by then, the person's mind has become irrational with the fear of the elevator falling, being stuck for hours, or other unpleasant thoughts. You would expect a person to exhibit the following physical symptoms: Additionally, you would be filled with that overwhelming anxiety where you feel that you have zero control over the situation. You start fearing the unknown and are filled with negative thoughts about death and imminent doom. You become irrational and unresponsive.

Possible Complications of Elevatophobia

When the panic sets in, the possibility of emergencies related to pre-existing conditions may make themselves known. This might include serious health crises like heart attacks or asthma attacks. When this happens, fear becomes a medical emergency. Elevator rides do not last long; it's just a matter of minutes or even less. But the fact that a person can escalate from panic to a near fatal medical situation classifies the fear of elevators as a 'hard phobia.'

Trying Some Self-Help Methods

Your fear of elevators can likely interfere with your social and work life and relationships. Not everyone understands that elevatophobia, like most phobias, can be crippling. But don't be disheartened. Depending on the level of your fear and level of control, you can gradually face and manage your phobia. Here are some recommendations you can try:
  1. Make a List of Everything that Entails Riding in an Elevator This is a systematic approach to getting over your anxiety. By following a step-by-step process, you can identify where the fear kicks in at its strongest. You can write a list of steps like pressing the topmost button and waiting to arrive on that floor, watching as the door closes and opens, being alone inside the elevator, or having delays with the doors opening. Now try doing the opposite. For example, face away from the door or occupy yourself with your phone so that you are distracted.
  2. Create Your Fear Ladder Although the name says fear of elevators, it is not the whole process that scares you. There are just phases and parts of the elevator riding experience that cause you to panic. So go back to the list you initially created and label the fear level you feel. You can do it numerically, too, like ten being 'really scary,' six, 'manageable scary,' and one, 'not scary at all.' You can put the corresponding fear levels so you can focus more time and effort into activities that are more scary to you.
  3. Face Your Fear By now, you have identified what scares you the most. You can try repetitive action to minimize your fear and increase your sense of ‘normalcy’. Remember that the longer you expose yourself to your fear, the better you get at handling your emotions. If you are feeling overwhelmed, stop. Pushing yourself too fast and too soon can backfire. Modify your pace and go slower instead.
  4. Talk About Your Fear People by nature, unfortunately, are not quick to offer understanding and support. You need to tell them what's wrong before they can empathize. Talk to someone who you trust and ask for their support, especially in the initial phase of overcoming your fear. If you are too afraid to ride the elevator alone, you can ask them to go with you, and before you realize it, you are on your floor, and there was no indication of panic.
  5. Learn To Be Patient Be patient with yourself and your predicament. This is, after all, your fight against fear. It might take hundreds of elevator ride practices before the fear gets under control. Even then, there might be some hesitations and episodes of nervousness. These are acceptable and expected, so cut yourself some slack and congratulate yourself for every progress.

Seeking Professional Help

Along with self-help, you can always enlist a medical professional's aid to support you with your elevatophobia. Talking to someone who has experience with similar cases can be comforting, because you know that you are not alone, and this situation can get better. Talk to your doctor about the severity of your fears and the symptoms that you experience. Explain how you deal with it in an attempt to control it. An exam and a health history are made to ensure that there are no unrelated or underlying problems that your symptoms might mask. Usually, phobias like this are approached with a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Your doctor will talk about these options with you, and it's entirely up to you, with your doctor's recommendation, what you want to pursue. For psychotherapy, the most common type is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to help you find different ways of behaving, thinking, and reacting when about to step inside an elevator or when already inside it. With medications, there are beta blockers and benzodiazepines, but note that these can have side effects. Whatever these side effects are, you should promptly share it with your doctor.

Simple Tips to Overcome Elevatophobia

Elevators are not perfect, but their likelihood to malfunction, fall, or get stuck is very low. If you are not fully confident with this information, you can help overcome your elevatophobia by learning common elevator safety tips and basic elevator operations. These should help curb your mild fear until you become more self-assured. In addition to that, here are some of the things that you can do to gradually overcome your fear of elevators—both in getting on and riding one.

Conclusion

Yes, elevatophobia can be a challenge in today's world, but don't allow the elevator to win. Don't let it stop you from taking a job on the top floor or attending a social gathering on the rooftop. Sure, you can take the stairs if you insist and arrive winded and sweaty, with the party about to wrap up. But is this the quality of life you seek? Elevators are designed to make life easier. There are guaranteed ways to help you overcome elevatophobia. Take the first step and seek help. Soon, you’ll see yourself breezing through the floors with those arduous stair climbs little more than a memory.
This Pop-up Is Included in the Theme
Best Choice for Creatives
Purchase Now