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DeadlySunrise ♀️ [5386585] [2007-08-21 00:52:48 +0000 UTC] "Kirsten" (United States)

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Comments: 7

giveagrin [2010-07-09 01:50:30 +0000 UTC]

thanks for the follow. :) (Smile)

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DeadlySunrise [2009-04-15 12:07:26 +0000 UTC]

Running head: STUCK AT HOME

Stuck at Home
Kirsten Peterson
Union High School

Abstract
Agoraphobia is a panic disorder that is found in seven percent of adults in the United States, being more prevalent in women. This is a disorder that is marked by an intense fear or anxiety when in a situation that is deemed dangerous or embarrassing such as a substation. Because of these fears, places that may cause the sufferer to have a panic attack are avoided. Main symptoms vary with cases, going from the fear of being alone or in crowded places to the fear of even leaving the home at all, nausea and increased pulse and heart rates marking the beginning of the panic attack that could follow. Causes seem to range from genetics to life experiences.

Agoraphobia: a panic disorder that is characterized by intense fear or panic in situations from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing. Depicted in DSM-IV-TR, patients with agoraphobia are typically afraid of such symptoms as feeling dizzy, having an attack of diarrhea, or the feeling that one “is going crazy.” Other symptoms include trembling, breaking out into a sweat, nausea, rapid pulse or breathing rate, or a sense of impending doom. There are two sorts of agoraphobia, ones with panic disorders and ones without. Those with panic disorders are essentially characterized by sudden attacks of fear and panic. There may be no known reason for the occurrence of panic attacks; they are frequently triggered by fear-producing events or thoughts, such as driving, or being in an elevator. People with agoraphobia appear to suffer from two distinct types of anxiety which are panic and the anticipatory anxiety related to fear of future panic attacks. Patients with agoraphobia are sometimes able to endure being in the situations through by gritting their teeth or by having a friend or relative accompany them. This disorder is somewhat similar to social phobia.
A case study that has been done for this disorder was one with a woman who will be referred to as “Maria.” Marie had agoraphobia for at least 25 years, finding herself about to go outside her home but rarely goes beyond 50 yards without feeling intense body heat, panic and other fear responses that are found in agoraphobia. According to Marie, it was caused by her past abuses, hereditary factors and some chemical imbalances. Marie sought treatment because she wanted to be able to spend time with her grandson, Johnny, concerned for his sake. Baby steps had to be made, as with every patient that has this disorder. First, she left her house, venturing fifty yards. This seemed to evoke no response of fear or panic. Another fifty yards was taken. Marie said that she was still fine but felt that if she went any further, that she would come to regret it. The elderly woman took another fifty yards. The woman reported that her senses were tightening. Another fifty yards were then taken. Her jaw tightened and she wished to go back. In one session, this was immense progress for the woman. Within a few sessions of emotional therapy, Marie was able to leave her home without too much fear. While she reported that her head would still talk to her, cautioning her about the outside world, this woman’s story ended up in success, unlike many of those with the disorder who can never get passed the fear.
The example provided had treatment that was almost purely emotional and driven by the patient, but other options are available. Cognitive-behavioral therapy may be used along with some sort of medication, psychologists also advising patients to stray away from caffeine as it feeds the panic symptoms. Exposure therapy, where an inch by inch method is taken, seems to work best for these type of patients, where they are able to go at their own pace and are encouraged step by step.
There does seem to be a prevalence found in this disorder. In general, phobias are the most common mental disorders, fear being a very powerful enemy in the general United States population, affecting about 7% of adults, or 6.4 million Americans. Agoraphobia is one of the most common phobias, affecting between 2.7% and 5.8% of American adults. The onset of symptoms is most likely to occur between age 15 and age 35.The lifetime prevalence of agoraphobia is estimated at 5%–12%. Agoraphobia is two to four times more common in women than in men. That it is more prone to be found in women is common among mental disorders. When it comes to different races and ethnicity, there seems to be the same amount of cases throughout, not appearing more in one race than another.
When it comes to genetics and agoraphobia, psychologists and scientists are unsure. As of 2002, the causes of agoraphobia are unable to be understood completely, being a complex matter, similar to a maze. It has been known for some years that anxiety disorders tend to run in families, though not necessarily from father to son or mother to daughter, etc. Recent research has confirmed earlier hypotheses that there is a genetic component to agoraphobia, and that it can be separated from susceptibility to PD. It was found in 2001 by Yale geneticists that there was a discovery of a genetic locus on human chromosome 3 that governs a person's risk of developing agoraphobia. Panic disorder was found to be associated with two loci: one on human chromosome 1 and the other on chromosome 11q. The researchers concluded that agoraphobia and panic disorders in general are common, both being able to pass on through the family.
There seems to be a couple of hypothesis to why it is that agoraphobia is found more often than females than males, before mentioned to being found in up to four times more prevalent in females over males. One form of this hypothesis maintains that some parents still teach girls to be fearful and timid about venturing out in public, following traditional roles that the female should remain at home. Another hypothesis connects agoraphobia and the mother-daughter relationship, maintaining that mothers tend to give daughters mixed messages about becoming separate individuals. Due to this, girls grow up with a more frail mentality, fragile and may stay within the physical boundaries of their home because they lack a firm sense of their internal psychological boundaries, feeling more comfortable at home where they are prompted to stay by their parents, not venturing far from the mother’s side. Psychologically speaking, agoraphobia could be a learned behavior. When faced in a situation that generally provokes panic, such as being in a subway station late at night with few people around, a bad incident that occurs can be scaring for a person, able to have a fear of that place now. Even further yet, if a child learns through experience that going to new places causes danger and is scary, too big for them to comprehend, than it may be learned that it is much safer to stay at home. Life events also seem to take a part in the disorder with about 42% of patients diagnosed with agoraphobia having histories of separation from loved ones. Contrastingly, children who are around parents who are anxious and panicky are likely to pick up the behavior as they grow. As before mentioned, genetics also play a part in the disorder.
Agoraphobia seems to begin a number of times with a person consciously becoming aware of how people perceive them. If they find themselves falling into an embarrassing situation, the incident may be scaring, causing the person to not want to go back to the scene of the incident or even risk exposure again, especially if the person is hurt outside of the home. It generally goes from one situation being feared to a variety of them being avoided all together. This disrupts the person’s life all together, causing them to even be panicky when they are driving or are out in public anywhere. This can lead to severe panic attacks or a sense of doom that leads the person to seek refuge and relief from those around them that they know or they choose to remain in the sanctuary of their home.
While agoraphobics in severe cases do not like to be out in public, there are a few celebrities that have the disorder. Among them is Kim Basinger, who has an acute case. First serving as a model and then later going onto becoming an actress, she attributes her disorder to all of the ogling that she got while being a swimming suit model, now very cautious of how she is perceived in public. She has gone from wearing skimpy bikinis that showed off her skin to wearing clothes that could cover as much skin as possible. Reportedly, when she feels that she is being scrutinized by the public, she finds refuge in her home just like many others who suffer from the disorder. Fortunately for her, it hasn’t taken over her life like it has many others.
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