Agoraphobia Definition

Defining agoraphobia can be a little confusing. It used to be held by many, that the definition of agoraphobia was a fear of wide-open spaces. Indeed, most current dictionaries still carry this meaning. Possibly, this is due to the word being derived from the Greek words “agora”, meaning marketplace or meeting place and “phobos”, meaning fear. So, the literal meaning would be “fear of the marketplace or meeting place”.

However, the more up to date definition is along the lines of: A fear of losing emotional or physical control, following a panic/anxiety attack, in a place or situation where a return to the sufferer’s safe zone may be difficult, embarrassing or, indeed, impossible.

Now, let’s compare the above definitions to what a real life agoraphobic experiences, to find out which is the more befitting.

I became a sufferer over twenty years ago and can say, without a doubt, that the agoraphobia took hold following a quick succession of panic attacks. At first, my phobia was only connected to driving but within a very short period of time, it became related to any form of transport.

So, what did I experience to make traveling so difficult? As with most agoraphobics, the fear of encountering another panic episode was what made traveling such a nightmare. And really, this was my agoraphobic condition in a nutshell. It was driven by the fear of having another panic attack. It was never about what was actually happening to me but what may happen to me if I had a mother and father of an attack whist I was several miles away from one of my safe zones. Which brings us to the “what if” part of agoraphobia.

Please allow me to explain. Imagine that, back in my agoraphobic days, I was traveling down a quiet back road on my way from my home safe zone to one of my other safe zones. Now, the roads are quiet today, I’m feeling fine and the scenery is rather nice. Suddenly, a thought just drifts into my mind from nowhere at all: “what if the traffic is backed up at the intersection with the busy road that we have to cross?” “And what if we have to wait in line for twenty minutes and what if I start to panic and get out of control?” “And what if the car stalls and won’t start and what if I start to panic and get out of control?” The human imagination is very powerful. It can take you to all kinds of wonderful places. However, imagine where it could go given such a negative stimulus. Now, unless I can stop myself “what ifing” and calm myself down, I know exactly where this is going, headed straight for another panic episode, one more reason to stay at home. Of course, if, upon arriving at the feared intersection, the traffic is free flowing then, the fear will just dissipate until I start “what ifing” about the next obstacle.