Most of us have heard the term “mental disorders”, and usually we think that only certain types of people become afflicted with these conditions. However this is simply not the case. Mental disorders include problems like panic attacks, anxiety disorders and social anxieties as well as the more severe conditions. These attacks can range from being mildly uncomfortable to conditions like severely debilitating agoraphobia and this is a condition that can strike anyone.
Imagine that your life is progressing nicely along the path that you’ve set out for yourself when suddenly, without any warning, an immense terror takes you in its grip. You begin to feel weak and helpless. Your heart’s pounding so hard you have trouble breathing. You may begin to wonder if you’re having a heart attack or perhaps if you’re about to die. Then when you finally get to see your doctor, you might even be told there’s nothing physically wrong with you.
Now when you next suffer from an attack you’re likely to wonder just what is wrong with you. You start to find that certain situations can bring on these frightening attacks and this should be your first clue that you’re actually experiencing a panic attack. Panic attacks, although they create physical symptoms, are not physical conditions, they are transient symptoms that will ease as you regain control of your panic, and that is why your doctor might have had trouble diagnosing your complaint.
So, what is agoraphobia you might ask? Most people have heard the term but few can imagine what it really means, a fear of crowded spaces sounds so innocuous somehow? However, this is a condition where an individual becomes increasingly afraid to go to places or face situations where they believe that they will become exposed to panic attacks. The very word agoraphobia itself lets us know the nature of this debilitating condition. ‘Agora’ comes from the Greek language and it describes places where people meet, or a marketplace. ‘Phobia’ is a fear of something. This enables us to at least understand where the name for this condition comes from in that people who suffer from agoraphobia have a fear of being in crowded places.
Agoraphobia is a condition that usually develops gradually. In general it begins after a panic attack. For example, after the first panic attack you experience, you may begin subconsciously preparing for another attack and fearing the symptoms that will leave you feeling so exposed and helpless. This cycle of panic attack and impending panic attack can cause you to change your entire lifestyle just to avoid the possibility of experiencing those feelings of terror. As panic attacks can occur anywhere at anytime, we generally associate the first place or situation that we experience one in as perhaps being the reason for our terror.
So we have established that an agoraphobia sufferer will go out of their way to avoid those places and situations where they believe that a panic attack may occur. In severe cases, they even end up being housebound as their fear of an attack grows along with their perceived need to avoid being in crowded places. This kind of unhealthy lifestyle can in itself trigger panic attacks to occur in everyday normal situations. As the fear grows, your heart rate increases and in turn the increased heart rate may then exacerbate a panic attack because you may become convinced that you’re having a heart attack.
As you can see this can be a vicious and extremely debilitating mental condition. People who suffer panic attacks should seek the medical aid of doctors who specialize in these kinds of mental disorders and ensure that they receive treatment before their panic attacks spiral into agoraphobia, where they may end up being severely restricted in their lifestyle, due to their ever increasing fear of being helpless in the face of a panic attack.