I’m trying to come up with a better word than agoraphobia to accurately describe most people diagnosed with panic disorder and, well, agoraphobia. Literally, the word combo is Greek for fear of the “open place,” which makes the word not only long, but wrong. As any agoraphobe knows, an open place or market space is only one of many conditions or circumstances that can trigger a panic attack in someone whose alarm system is temporarily haywire.
My goal is to make it easier for agoraphobic folks to talk about their condition. As you can well imagine, most agoraphobes are embarrassed to admit being terrified spitless of only one thing: of having another panic attack. That’s it. You have become terrified of those hot blasts of norapinephrine (adrenaline) designed to turn you into a primitive beast so suddenly strong and single minded that you can defeat and even kill another primitive beast or run fast enough to escape fleet predators.
People with panic disorder are afraid of the terrifying experience, but almost even worse is the thought of having to reveal the truth about themselves to significant others. The feeling of shame and low self esteem I experienced over being crippled by such a ridiculous condition was almost as bad as the panic attacks. I was mortified by the thought I might have to explain to someone what I had. What was I afraid of? It’s difficult to tell someone you’re afraid of being afraid. We should call it “phobiaphobia.”
Close to 1 percent of the population worldwide * is afflicted with what we currently call agoraphobia. People at all socio/economic levels can end up virtually cornered by terrifyingly severe panic attacks, but not know how to explain themselves to others.
One way to help this happen is for agoraphobes of the world to learn how to sound smart about their own illness. If you read enough you can help the “normies” comprehend that what you suffer from is a condition wherein your fight or flight response system was inadvertently wired to be triggered too easily. If you study and take notes about the roles of the amygdala and hippocampus and neural receptors and more, you can stop feeling so lame about discussing it with others.
One important point to make is that agoraphobia is completely curable through specific thought processes and activities. Creating new neural pathways will literally change your mind so your alarm system is no longer tricked into false alarms. Another important point to make is that agoraphobia is just a word we use to describe someone who avoids certain places or circumstances because of the fear of panic attacks and that there are varying degrees of agoraphobia. You can explain the phenomena by using the 3 levels: Level 1, housebound or mostly so; Level 2, limited travel (work and school) Level 3, mobile with a wall.
I tell people I spent time in all 3 levels at various times of my 30 year imprisonment. Stressors of one kind or another always played a role in my level of anxiety. The next time someone asks you about your “condition,” try something like this: “If you’ve got a few minutes, I’d love to tell you about panic disorder because it’s actually a fascinating study of the most primitive part of the brain….” And on and on you’ll go with your newly organized scientific information about brain science. Let me know how it goes.
See you at unagoraphobic.com
*National Institute of Mental Health website