What Is Agoraphobia?

What is Agoraphobia? By strict etymological definition, the fear of open spaces. However, it tends to be most commonly used as a clinical medical term for those who have a fear of being outside. These fear can become so crippling that the sufferer will avoid leaving their home altogether, which in turn has a huge impact on their quality of life and working prospects.

Agoraphobia is a severe anxiety disorder, a clinical grouping of mental health issues for which there is no definitive known cause. It is often partnered with another anxiety disorder, such as Social Anxiety Disorder or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, though it can be a standalone issue. It has also been linked to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is important to know if the agoraphobia has an underlying cause or if it is a single issue, as if one is treated for the actual condition (OCD or SAD), then the agoraphobia itself usually fades.

In cases where agoraphobia is the only anxiety disorder present, sufferers will feel an overwhelming fear of being outside. This can sometimes just be in unfamiliar or crowded places, but some affected by agoraphobia will not wish to be out of their home at all. If an agoraphobia is required to leave their home, they will become increasingly panicked – often suffering anxiety attacks and physical fear symptoms, such as shaking or feeling sick.

The main treatment for agoraphobia is exposure therapy, whereby a person gradually increases the amount of time they spend outside. This is usually done with psychiatric assistance and observation. While agoraphobia can never be cured, it can be managed, and with effective treatment sufferers can go on to live normal, happy lives.

Mental Health Issues: Telling Your Family

Due to the many stigmas attached to mental health issues, it can sometimes be hugely difficult for a sufferer to confide in individuals about their condition. They may feel that their confession will be laughed off as being all in the mind, or that it will change the way people look at them. In many cases the fear will be disproportionate to reality – but then, this is how mental health issues affect people.

There is a traditional opinion that mental health issues are somehow less serious than physical conditions. Because a physical condition is usually something that can be seen, there is a tendency to rate them as being more serious than mental health issues. But depression, OCD, SAD and others have affected people so badly that they kill themselves – so it is only right that they are treated seriously too.

In most cases, the anxiety over telling a family member of a mental health condition will be misplaced. They will be concerned for the sufferer and want them to get better. As yet, widespread understanding of mental health issues is not uniformly great, and it may take more explanation than a physical condition. However, in the end the family member will want their brother, son, wife or other family member to feel better, and will learn what they can to help them.

Aside from this, a family has a right to know that their relative is ill. They would be horrified if the secret went to the grave and they had not had a chance to help with their mental health issues. It may be difficult to face up to, but telling family is important.

What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder? It is at the crux of a great deal of mental illnesses. The pain of a mental illness is that it comes from within you and attacks you with weapons you have unknowingly given it. Due to this, anxiety is a very powerful influence on mental illness – because no-one knows what you are afraid of better than you do, your brain will in its disordered state confront you with the things that scare you and make you anxious. As a consequence you will find it all the harder to beat the problem because part of you is causing it.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD is an illness which is characterized by worry about everyday, mundane things. It is typically a disproportionate worry about something that, in all likelihood, will not be a major problem. Typical flashpoints for GAD are things such as money, work and relationships – things that may well be going well for the sufferer, but due to the disorder will begin to niggle in their mind.

An individual with GAD may be in an excellent, well-paid job with prospects for the future, a stable and happy relationship and have numerous good friends. The disorder will pick at one or more of these and present the individual with the fear that something will go wrong. Most usually, it will use a small problem and expand it until the problem is all the sufferer can see. Usually treated using anti-depressants and cognitive behavioral therapy, generalized anxiety disorder can become debilitating, but if it is tackled head-on the sufferer can overcome it and lead a happy life.

The Benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

It may seem like a bit of a mouthful, but Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (known as CBT) is one of the foremost treatments for anxiety and panic disorders – and also one of the most effective. Many patients find a combination of CBT and traditional psychiatrist help and assessment is just what they need to combat their anxiety problems.

CBT is based on retraining the way they brain thinks. When someone suffers from an anxiety problem, it is because their mind is making a subconscious decision or overreaction to a particular stimulus. CBT is designed to find the root cause of the problem, and persuade the mind through therapy sessions and workshops to see things differently. This can remove the element of fear and whatever else may be causing the anxiety, but not by riding over the top of the problem as medication might. Instead, CBT focuses on retraining the brain.

In terms of efficacy, CBT is perhaps the most realistic way of overcoming problems with anxiety. It is replacing conventional psychiatric treatments for some people, who prefer the less intensive and intrusive elements of CBT. A session with a psychiatrist can be quite taxing mentally, whereas CBT is designed to move at your own pace.

CBT is generally conducted by psychologists’, and tends to work as an intensive program of six or eight weeks. Patients can have as many programs as they wish, until they feel they have grasped the problem. When CBT is grasped and the new methods learned, a patient may need nothing more than an occasional refresher course for the rest of their life.

What Is An Anxiety Attack?

At some point in their lives, more than 60% of the population will experience an anxiety attack. Sometimes called panic attacks, such occurrences can be extremely alarming to those who are not aware of what the problem is. Most frequently anxiety attacks, to the initiated, will appear almost heart attack like in their symptoms – needless to say, this is extremely distressing. Yet even if you do know what is happening to you, in the moment of the attack, you can forget and panic nevertheless. Basically, anxiety attacks are deeply unpleasant.

There is no known cause of anxiety attacks, though as the name suggests, they do relate to anxiety. If a person is distraught, upset or anxious, they are more likely to suffer such an attack. However, some sufferers – and it should be stressed only in a small amount of cases – can suffer from an attack even when they feel calm and relaxed.

With no absolute known physical cause of anxiety attacks, there is no known way of preventing with them. Primarily, sufferers are taught how to manage attacks rather than try and prevent them altogether. If the sufferer panics during an attack, it will worsen in severity, so behavior therapy can help people remain calm.

Different people experience different symptoms, but an anxiety attack can be characterized as a short, intense period of fear and anxiety. This often combines with sweating, shaking, shortness of breath and other fear-related symptoms. Left alone, and provided the sufferer attempts as best to remain calm, they should last no more than 10 minutes.