Moving from the more general to the more specific, we are moving from the general anxiety definition to defining specific types of anxiety. In this article we are going to discuss the agoraphobia definition.

The general known meaning of agoraphobia is: fear from open space. To be able to define agoraphobia in a more academic form we will start by quoting the definition used in Wikipedia: "The word "agoraphobia" is an English adaptation of the Greek words agora (αγορά) and phobos (φόβος), and literally translates to "a fear of the marketplace."

Agoraphobia is a condition where the sufferer becomes anxious in environments that are unfamiliar or where he or she perceives that they have little control. Triggers for this anxiety may include wide open spaces, crowds, or traveling (even short distances). This anxiety is often compounded by a fear of social embarrassment, as the agoraphobic fears the onset of a panic attack and appearing distraught in public.

Agoraphobics may experience panic attacks in situations where they feel trapped, insecure, out of control or too far from their personal comfort zone. In severe cases, an agoraphobic may be confined to his or her home. Many people with agoraphobia are comfortable seeing visitors in a defined space they feel they can control. Such people may live for years without leaving their homes, while happily seeing visitors in and working from their personal safety zones. If the agoraphobic leaves his or her safety zone, they may experience a panic attack."

Most of the sources that try to define agoraphobia and in most of the research material that we found, we got the impression that Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety and panic. Recently we found a piece that says agoraphobics can either be of panic disorder history or without such history. Although the article admits that most agoraphobics have a history of panic disorder we still found the article creating two paragraphs to distinguish between the two groups. The two paragraphs are as follows: We are quoting http://agoraphobia.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_agoraphobia

"What is Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia?

Those who have panic disorder with agoraphobia exhibit the characteristics of agoraphobia and they also have a history of panic disorder. Their fear is primarily focused on having a panic attack.

According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), this disorder is diagnosed three times as often in women as in men and approximately one-third to one-half of people with panic disorder also have agoraphobia.

What is Agoraphobia without History of Panic Disorder?

Agoraphobics who do not have panic disorder are not afraid of having a panic attack per se, but are afraid of having any physical panic-type symptom, such as dizziness or diarrhea. The fear may include any embarrassing symptom, such as loss of bladder control or a fear of fainting and being left on the sidewalk, or a fear of cardiac arrest.

If there is an underlying fainting or cardiac disorder, the fear about the medical condition has to be clearly in excess of what would “normally” be associated with the person’s medical condition, in order for agoraphobia to be diagnosed.

This disorder is far more prevalent in females than in males, according to the DSM-IV."

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