Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Agoraphobia

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology

  • 139 Accesses

Synonyms

Avoidance of feared places and situations; Anticipatory anxiety; Fear of being alone; Fear of crowded areas; Fear of public places; Fear reaction to somatic anxiety symptoms; Phobic anxiety

Definition

Agoraphobia is an anxiety syndrome in which patients experience severe anxiety or distress in certain places or situations. This can lead to the avoidance of these situations. The places often represent those from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing, e.g., public transport, supermarkets, crowds, or lifts. However, symptoms can also occur when the patient is alone in any place where they anticipate that they will be unable to obtain help should “the worst” happen. It often starts after unexplained spontaneous symptoms of anxiety or panic attacks, and the fear of anxiety symptoms rather than the actual attacks becomes predominant leading to a heightened state of anticipation.

Role of Pharmacotherapy

Diagnostic Categories

Although panic attacks and agoraphobic avoidance...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edn. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakker A, van Balkom AJ, Spinhoven P (2002) SSRIs vs TCAs in the treatment of panic disorder: a meta-analysis. Acta Psychiatr Scand 106:163–167

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Furukawa TA, Watanabe N, Churchill R (2006) Psychotherapy plus antidepressant for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. Systematic review. Br J Psychiatry 188:305–312

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler RC, Chiu WT, Jin R et al (2006) The epidemiology of panic attacks, panic disorder, and agoraphobia in the national comorbidity survey replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry 63:415–424

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mitte K (2005) A meta-analysis of the efficacy of psycho- and pharmacotherapy in panic disorder with and without agoraphobia. J Affect Disord 88:27–45

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nathan PE, Gorman JM (2002) A guide to treatments that work, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Otto MW, Tuby KS, Gould RA et al (2001) An effect-size analysis of the relative efficacy and tolerability of serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors for panic disorder. Am J Psychiatry 158:1989–1992

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perugi G, Frare F, Toni C (2007) Diagnosis and treatment of agoraphobia with panic disorder. CNS Drugs 21:741–764

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez-Meca J, Rosa-Alcazar AI, Marin-Martinez F et al (2010) Psychological treatment of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia: a meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev 30:37–50

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe N, Churchill R, Furukawa TA (2009) Combined psychotherapy plus benzodiazepines for panic disorder. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 1:CD005335

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, Denmark Hill, SE5 8AF, London, UK

    Alyson J. Bond

Authors
  1. Alyson J. Bond
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alyson J. Bond .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Behavioural Pharmacology, King's College London Institute of Psychiatry P049, London, United Kingdom

    Ian P. Stolerman

  2. Brown Medical School, Butler Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

    Lawrence H. Price

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Bond, A.J. (2014). Agoraphobia. In: Stolerman, I., Price, L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27772-6_108-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27772-6_108-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27772-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation