Agoraphobia Research Paper

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Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia is a mental health diagnosis coded as 300.21 is the DSM-IV-TR. Panic disorder is classified as an Anxiety disorder. One diagnosed with Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia may experience periods of intense fear or discomfort without any known cause and have a minimum of four out of the thirteen somatic or cognitive symptoms. Some of the symptoms include: heart palpitations, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath, feeling of choking, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, de-realization or depersonalization, fear of losing control, fear of dying, and chills or hot flashes. The sudden attacks are often unprovoked however sometimes have identified triggers. There are three types of Panic Attacks according to the DSM-IV-TR.…show more content…
Agoraphobia by definition in the DSM-IV-TR represents the fear of being unable to escape from a situation or place. Agoraphobia symptoms also include excessive worry about having a panic attack in a public place. Commonly feared places and situations are elevators, sporting events, bridges, public transportation, shopping malls, airplanes, crowds or lines of people according to the Mayo Clinic. Such as the fear of driving a car due to the anticipation of having an attack could lead to agoraphobia. Persons suffering from Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia often become homebound in severe cases. In mild cases, a person may be comfortable going to certain particular places or may go out if accompanied by a safe person. A safe person is someone who the person diagnosed with Agoraphobia has identified as being able to help them escape from an area should they have a Panic Attack. In many cases, Agoraphobia becomes more severe when the person refuses to leave the home and in many cases has resulted in severe consequences. There have been cases in which persons feared experiencing a Panic Attack to the point they would not leave their home under any circumstances. In such cases, medical care was unable to be provided and serious health problems went
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