Agoraphobia by ~Sprech4 on deviantART

I finally looked up “Agoraphobia” on the Web and was surprised, to say the least. It is a far more complicated & subtle disorder than it seems, to the popular mind. Like mine. I always thought it was “fear of open spaces”, like, well, outside the house.

Not so.

The DSMIV describes it as a “subset “ of  Panic Disorder, in that it is a fear of having a panic attack in public places. Such as: wide-open spaces, crowded spaces, and  “uncontrollable social situations”. Agoraphobia sometimes is fear of a particular place where something bad happened once, but it is, again, a fear of being afraid at a specific location.  Also, there is “separation anxiety” as a contributing factor “ triggered by being left alone at home.”

Then there is the  fear of death (“necro phobia)” ) also subordinate to Agoraphobia. Or maybe this fear is “causative”, who knows, really…let us just say these terrible mental things happen in an uncanny cluster of symptomology  which tends to be labeled “Agoraphobia” by the scientific community , those aloof chroniclers of raw dread and angst we reward so well these days, as they have usurped the place of priest, holy man, holy woman, etc…mythologically…

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What causes it? well, it maybe it was the PTSD or OCD or substance abuse or “stressful  environment” one suffered earlier.   

Realize , readers, that from each speculative theory, a treatment has been developed.

In other words, if you are an agoraphobic sweating it out in a clinician’s office, it depends on his education and personal  moral preferences as to what to do with you…

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3.2 percent of americans have it.

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I sure got it, half the time. Or a third of the time. In the nice sunny warm weather it’s easier to go outside, because the world doesn’t look threatening and malicious and uncaring, like in the winter.

I had a “bout” of it earlier this week , but seem to be over it. 

To walk down the street under control of this disorder is a fascinating experience, not while it happens surely, but later, in retrospect. It is a clenching of many many mucles, including the jaw and the legs and arms and eyes.

You kind of feel like you are walking a malfunctioning fleshrobot around against “its” (your bodiy’s) will. If your muscles aint working, the only thing to do it rest them in a depressive torpor...

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The muscle clenching is paramount in understanding

this disorder.

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Here is a (as usual ‘’chicken & egg” proclamation) fascinating development in figuring out not the cause,

but certain physical results from suffering from Agoraphobia:

Research has uncovered a linkage between agoraphobia

and difficulties with spatial orientation.

 Individuals without agoraphobia are able to maintain balance

by combining information from their vestibular system,

their visual system and their proprioceptive sense.

 A disproportionate number of agoraphobics

 have weak vestibular function

and consequently rely more on visual or tactile signals.

 They may become disoriented when visual cues are sparse

(as in wide open spaces) or overwhelming (as in crowds)

 Likewise, they may be confused by sloping or irregular surfaces.

In a virtual reality study, agoraphobics showed impaired processing of changing audiovisual data in comparison with non-suffering subjects.

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So if we combine what we know about the brain with what we” hear-tell” from agoraphobics (objective vs. subjective, chicken vs. egg)  then maybe we shall get a better idea of what it is. Because my prophetic side says there will soon be an epidemic…

It is my bipolar disorder, under which my OCD  and occasional 1)add 2)adhd  3) clinical depression 4)Agoraphoia (which indeed affects vision: but more like: what an agoraphobic dares to due with his eyes, which is not much….)…………

……….which allows me to claim  role of “prophet” & tell you all that your kids are becoming agoraphobic every day, after nestling safely in cyberspace in peace & tranquility & perhaps joy, for so many hours each day…then being thrust out into a world which is, to say the least, a series of  “uncontrollable social situations”.

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Home is where the heart is. But the heart has been usurped. For quite awhile now. By the Brain.