By Philip Wells

 Everyone has particular fears that we have problems with. These fears are not the common fears that everyone has for example the fear of dying or losing a loved family member. A lot of folks experience the fear of heights, the dread of spiders etcetera. A phobia is a extreme fear of something to a much higher level of intensity. Most of the time, this dread cannot be eliminated and remains with the particular person for numerous years. One such dread is agoraphobia.

What is agoraphobia?

Agoraphobia is the fear of being in a public space. Although it may look strange that one would be afraid of an open region, numerous individuals do have problems with this. Typically men and women who experience agoraphobia prefer to stay indoors and hate being outdoors in the open-air. The explanation for this fear is that one is overcome with a sense of feeling un-protected even though there may be a huge number of people close to them. These people experience suffocation when they're dealing wit large crowded areas and wish to be on their own or only near people they know well or are comfortable being close to. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) claims that 3.2 million adults in the U.S. experience agoraphobia.

What are the signs and symptoms of agoraphobia?

The signs of individuals who are afflicted by agoraphobia are several. Typically such a person would get panic attacks and start sweating profusely. Afflicted individuals also start hyperventilating and could at times experience that it's extremely difficult to breathe. Other symptoms of agoraphobia would consist of the sufferer feeling nausea, dizzy or faintish.

Although all the signs and symptoms mentioned above are physical signs or symptoms that one would experience, there there might also be psychological symptoms related to agoraphobia. This may possibly include the person suffering from terribly low self-esteem, and he/she noticing that others detect his/her anxiety in public which can be quite an uncomfortable experience.

How can it be treated?

Treatment would consist of medication or therapy or a combination of the two depending on your circumstances. You would be smart to visit a good doctor-- better yet a specialist-- in order to effectively identify these signs. You will most definitely have to have the support of close associates and family to properly treat agoraphobia.

Living with with agoraphobia you will need to learn to keep away as best as possible from any location that you determine would make you anxious or bring about a panic attack. If you feel the signs and symptoms you usually have problems with, go into a safer room until you manage to compose your self again and triumph over the symptoms.

Keep in mind that there is no shortage of medications that you can accept to combat agoraphobia, but these carry a very high cost. Medication of the kind given by doctors for anxiety conditions tends to do more harm than good and more often then not can lead to addiction. When all is said and done, your best option for dealing with anxiety conditions of any type is to put your faith in cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT, a well-established method that has been successfully serving people for dozens of years.

P.K. Wells is webmaster to a wide variety of websites. His favorite project is helping people with anxiety conditions. In his website A Cure For Panic Attacks he covers also covers the search topics: panic attack symptoms and cures for panic attacks.