How Agoraphobia Develops

The onset of agoraphobia usually begins with an episode of spontaneous panic. In most cases, the person gets conditioned to associate panic with the place or situation in which they experienced the panic attack and starts to avoid it.

Also, most people don’t know what is wrong when they experience their first panic attack. Not understanding what is happening during an unexpected episode of panic can lead to catastrophic thinking about what might be wrong.

Following the initial panic attack, the person becomes afraid of having another one. This fear leads to obsessive worry about when and where the next panic attack might occur. The person literally “fears the fear.”

This obsessive worry triggers more frequent panic attacks and the person gets conditioned to associate panic with each new situation or place where he or she has a panic attack. Because unexplained panic attacks are horrifying experiences, most people start avoiding all the places they have panic attacks.

At some point, panic attacks are experienced in so many places that the fear of having a panic attack generalizes. The person associates panic with nearly everywhere and avoids most public places. In the most severe cases, people with agoraphobia become confined to their homes. In extreme cases, agoraphobics are even confined to their beds.

Article Source: http://www.agoraphobia.net

Stephen Price is a recovered agoraphobic with an informational webiste found on the web at: www.agoraphobia.ws

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