Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is avoidance and fear of such situations where escape is really embarrassing or difficult. Agoraphobia can be in mild cases where with successful treatment will permanently go away, or it can be in stage where immediate severe treatment should be started.
There are two situations that patients with agoraphobia avoid and fear. First one is fear of entrapment where they will not have opportunity to escape in case if panic attack shows. Urge for escaping is very strong, because they believe that attacks will be gone if they are sure that have open road to escape. If they cannot escape they are terrified and that’s why great deal of agoraphobic patients doesn’t like to travel by plane.
Second situation related to agoraphobic fears is need of patients to have doctor in near vicinity so they can get instant help in case of panic attack strike. They would like to be near medical persons or institutions where they can get help needed. That’s why these patients very often have need to know where hospitals or institutions are located before they go to travel or go on unknown places.
These situations enlighten the facts why agoraphobic patients don’t like to be alone, don’t like to travel alone and don’t like to be outside of their imaginative zone of safety in which they can escape not being embarrassed in case of panic attack. Such problematic zones for agoraphobic patients are public crowded places, public transport (buses, trains, subway, boats), planes flying, elevators, bridges, underground facilities, cinemas, theaters, great shopping centers, restaurants, standing in line facilities, public meetings and so on.
