Signs & Symptoms

In Greek, agoraphobia means "fear of the marketplace". Today, that fear usually involves situations such as being away from home, standing in a crowd, staying home alone, being on a bridge or traveling, however you get there. Though some people might think agoraphobics are simply eccentric, fear of going outside the home by definition can be seriously debilitating. If a person, for example, can't ride on public transportation, go into shopping malls, or enjoy any type of public entertainment outside the home, social interaction becomes extremely limited and the life lived sadly sterile.

Even if people with agoraphobia can muster up the courage to face the fearful situation, they do so with great distress and often can not attend to life's basic necessities without an accompanying companion.

People with agoraphobia are usually treated first with exposure therapy, a type of behavioural therapy which gradually desensitizes the person to the stressful situation. Exposure therapy appears to help about two-thirds of people with agoraphobia. If unsuccessful, medications that increase serotonin are similarly helpful, and may be used in addition to exposure therapy. These medications include most of the antidepressants for major depression, although not all.