Though anxiety is often referred to as a singular disorder, there are actually several variations of the anxious condition. One of the more dramatic variations of anxiety is agoraphobia. Agoraphobia defined is a sense of fear or unease in unfamiliar environments. Agoraphobia is a mostly rare condition, affecting roughly five percent of the population, with women most often affected.



Agoraphobia is not inherently dramatic in the way it presents itself, but it can become so in extreme cases. In an extreme case of agoraphobia, the person affected becomes so overwhelmed by fear or unease or both, that they literally confine themselves to the perceived safety and security of their home. Agoraphobics that have these sorts of extreme symptoms are not people anxious per se: agoraphobics who confine themselves can often personally interact provided the interaction takes place within their confined comfort area.

It's thought that agoraphobia has a connection to feeling insecure over a lack of control. Within an unknown physical location, an agoraphobic can become exceptionally afraid over the possibility of coming to some type of harm. The person with agoraphobia fixates then on the possibility of danger in unfamiliar settings, and this fixation leads to elevated anxiety and even panic. While agoraphobics may have panic attacks, it is the focus on unfamiliar environments triggering panic that defines their condition. An agoraphobic may panic only in unfamiliar settings in other words, whereas someone with panic disorder can have a panic attack at virtually any time.

People with a generalized panic condition may confine themselves, as the agoraphobic does, but this confinement for the person with generalized anxiety is not necessarily a solution to ending panic as it may be for the agoraphobic. Agoraphobics are different from people with a social anxiety condition as well because the agoraphobic's unease is not with people so much as it is with settings. And once again, a person with agoraphobia is able to comfortably interact with others inside of a comfort zone.

The person with agoraphobia can be in a confounding position, both for themselves and for the people who care about them. Some persons with extreme agoraphobia have been known to confine themselves to a perceived comfort zone for literally years on end. At its core, agoraphobia is an anxious condition, and though anxiety can be extremely painful and damaging, it is a highly treatable state. So it is with agoraphobia: with proper treatment, agoraphobia can be completely overcome and the agoraphobic can lead a normal existence that's free of worry and fear.