Question

Respond with a specific disorder and explaination:

A 19-yr. old woman was walking through the mall when she began to feel sensations of choking, smothering, and a sudden sense that people and stores around her were unreal. She began to fear that she was going crazy. She sat down for a few minutes and the symptoms began to subside. A week later she had a similar episode while walking down the street. She has since had 3 more episodes with these distressing symptoms and is constantly worried about having another. She has begun to stay at home more and more because she is afraid that if she leaves her house she won't be able to get help if she has another episode.

Answer 1

• The woman is suffering from a specific phobia called agoraphobia.Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless or embarrassed.
• You fear an actual or anticipated situation, such as using public transportation, being in open or enclosed spaces, standing in line, or being in a crowd.
• The anxiety is caused by fear that there's no easy way to escape or get help if the anxiety intensifies. Most people in this case the woman mentioned, who have agoraphobia develop it after having one or more panic attacks, causing them to worry about having another attack and avoid the places where it may happen again.
• People with agoraphobia often have a hard time feeling safe in any public place, especially where crowds gather. The woman in this case, may feel that she needs a companion, such as a relative or friend, to go with her to public places. The fear can be so overwhelming that she may feel unable to leave her home.
• Typical agoraphobia symptoms include fear of:
• Leaving home alone
• Crowds or waiting in line
• Enclosed spaces, such as movie theaters, elevators or small stores
• Open spaces, such as parking lots, bridges or malls
• Using public transportation, such as a bus, plane or train
• These situations cause anxiety because the woman fears she won't be able to escape or find help if she starts to feel panicked or have other disabling or embarrassing symptoms.
• Some people have a panic disorder in addition to agoraphobia. Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder in which you experience sudden attacks of extreme fear that reach a peak within a few minutes and trigger intense physical symptoms (panic attacks). One might think that they are totally losing control, having a heart attack or even dying.
• Fear of another panic attack can lead to avoiding similar circumstances or the place where it occurred in an attempt to prevent future panic attacks.