Amanda
Mrs. Zurkowski
Purples
10/5/10
It’s Okay to Come Outside!
Imagine never being able to walk outside your door to get your mail or paper. Your body would lack nutrients from vitamin D and fresh air. Just turning your doorknob could put you into a state of panic and cause you to faint. This is what life would be like if you had agoraphobia. This disorder affects your life drastically. It affects 3% of Americans and will change the way to live your life. Although agoraphobia is a disabling disorder, doctors are finding many treatment options proven effective to help victims with this disorder. No matter what triggers this disorder, your whole life can change because of a fear that’s right outside your front door.
Did you know that more women than men suffer from agoraphobia? According to Gale Student Resources, more women than men suffer from agoraphobia. David H. Barlow from the State University of New York at Albany says that “the term is derived from the Greek word phobos, which means ‘fear,’ ‘terror,’ ‘panic,’ or ‘flight’.” Agoraphobia literally means “fear of the marketplace.” A couple of examples of why people might have agoraphobia because they have a fear of big, wide open spaces like malls or airports. Agoraphobia usually develops between the ages of 15 and 35. There are many different theories on how it can be developed. It can be hereditary, or form as a result from a panic attack. Even an overactive nervous system can contribute to the development of this disorder. If an agoraphobic has a panic attack then they will retreat into comfort of their home and may never come outside again if treatment is not sought out.
If stepping onto the porch everyday caused someone to think that they were dying or going crazy, wouldn’t seem like a horror movie? Well that must be how it feels to an agoraphobic. Agoraphobia puts many “road blocks” in a person’s daily life. They can’t buy food, socialize with friends, or go on with living their life. Living a life of seclusion would have to get boring at some point. In the book So B. It, by Sara Weeks, one of the characters had agoraphobia and she stopped living her life. She always had an excuse to not go outside. The World of Health reports that:
A person with agoraphobia may have a panic attack at any time, for no apparent reason. Then they begin to avoid the places or situations in which the panic attack occurred and their fear generalizes. For this reason, people with agoraphobia avoid places where they might not be able to escape if a panic attack occurs. As the fear of an attack escalates, the person's world narrows. Eventually the person completely avoids public places.
In some cases, not only will they stay in a “safe zone,” but they won’t leave the side of someone they trust. If your parents ever sent you to your room when you were a little kid and you could never leave. Well it’s almost as if agoraphobics are punishing themselves inside their own home, because they are afraid of the outside world.
There are treatment options that can help victims of agoraphobia. There are drugs to reduce anxiety and psychotherapy that has been proven to help agoraphobics. Today’s Science says, “Psychotherapy, especially cognitive-behavior techniques, has proved successful in treating phobias. One technique, systematic desensitization, involves gradually confronting the phobic person with situations or objects that are increasingly close to the feared ones. Exposure therapy has proved effective in some cases. In this technique, people with a phobia are repeatedly exposed to the feared situation or object so that they can see that no harm befalls them; the fear gradually fades.” There are two popular anti-anxiety drugs Paxil and Zoloft that can help as well. If agoraphobia is not treated, it will get worse over time. A combination of drugs and therapy has been proven most effective because the therapy gradually introduces the person to the world again because they are learning that there really is no fear and the drugs will reduce anxiety. There are techniques that people can learn like deep breathing to control themselves when they are outside. In the movie Nim’s Island, one of the characters has agoraphobia and she conquers her fear of going outside to rescue the main charater alone on the island.
If agoraphobia victims are willing to change the way they live, then their disorder will go away. A treatable disorder like agoraphobia can be conquered because it really is okay to go outside.
Works Cited
Barlow, David H. "Phobia." Encyclopedia Americana. 2010. Grolier Online. 22 Sept. 2010
"Phobia." Encyclopedia. Today’s Science. Facts On File News Services, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2010.
"Phobias." World of Health. Gale, 2007. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 22 Sept. 2010.
Rais, B. Theodore. Agoraphobia. 2008. Jan. 2010. Web. 18 Sept. 2010.
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