Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder which primarily consists of the fear of experiencing a difficult or embarrassing situation from which the sufferer cannot escape. Many people believe agoraphobia is a fear of "crowded places" or "open spaces" when in fact an agoraphobic does not fear people nor spaces, rather he or she fears an embarrassing/dangerous situation with no escape.

Agoraphobics may experience severe panic attacks in situations where they feel trapped, insecure, out of control, or too far from their personal comfort zone. In severe cases, an agoraphobic may be confined not only to their home, but to one or two rooms, and they may even become bed-bound, or a recluse.

Agoraphobics are often extremely sensitized to their own bodily sensations, subconsciously over-reacting to perfectly normal events. For example, the exertion involved in climbing a flight of stairs may trigger a full-blown panic attack, because it increases the heartbeat and breathing rate, which the agoraphobic interprets as the start of a panic attack instead of a normal fluctuation.

Most people who present to mental health specialists develop agoraphobia after the onset of panic disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 1998). Agoraphobia is best understood as an adverse behavioral outcome of repeated panic attacks and the subsequent worry, preoccupation, and avoidance. Thus, the formal diagnosis of panic disorder with agoraphobia was established.

The one-year prevalence of agoraphobia is about 5 percent. Agoraphobia occurs about twice as commonly among women than men. The gender difference may be attributable to social/cultural factors that encourage, or permit, the greater expression of avoidant coping strategies by women, although other explanations are also possible.

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