The symptoms of agoraphobia have been described by numerous entities, since it is a complex disease that, in each person, manifests with certain peculiarities. If we had to classify it, we would say that it falls within anxiety disorders.
People who suffer from it suffer from anxiety or exaggerated fear of places or situations in which they feel helpless, trapped or ashamed. For example, open spaces, crowded places, or even public transportation.
The problem is that agoraphobia symptoms vary considerably, since this pathology encompasses a set of phobias that sometimes overlap each other. In this article we explain the most frequent manifestations.
Symptoms of agoraphobia according to DSM-V
The DSM-V is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, updated in 2013. It is the tool that psychologists and psychiatrists usually use to identify different pathologies. According to this manual, the most common agoraphobia symptoms are the following:
Feeling anxious in places where it may be difficult or embarrassing to escape . These people are often afraid of having a panic attack and, even more so, of it happening to them in places where they cannot get help. The places that cause the most fear are those outside the home and are very crowded, such as public transport or supermarkets.
Fear causes avoidance behaviors to develop. For example, if a symptom of agoraphobia is anxiety when riding a bus, these people try never to do it. They change habits for fear of having a crisis.
In order to diagnose agoraphobia, it is usually required that the anxiety attacks be repeated or that a very intense worry arises as a result of one of them. That is, that person feels panic about the probability of suffering another or that they change their behavior from that moment on.
Furthermore, it is important to note that other mental disorders must be excluded in order to establish a certain diagnosis. This is because, on many occasions, certain specific phobias tend to be confused with agoraphobia, such as social phobia.
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