Agoraphobia¶

The Fear of Wide-Open, Crowded Places¶

Phobic Properties¶

Agoraphobia is not an actual specific phobia, it's really an anxiety disorder. It often develops as a complication of panic disorder, with people avoiding places where it might be embarrassing or hard to leave if they felt a panic disorder on its way. This eventually leads to agoraphobiacs always staying at home or only venturing out with a friend or family member, which places significant strain on both themselves and the friend/family member. Agoraphobia can occur without being triggered by panic disorder, but this has not been research to a great extent since agoraphobia wasn't recognized as a separate disorder until 2013.

Agoraphobia may also in part stem from a vestibular failure, thus causing the phobiac to rely more on visual cues than other people. This can e.g. be seen in a research using virtual reality wherein non-agoraphobiacs had slightly less cybersickness in a auditory-visual environment than in a solely visual environment, agoraphobiacs however had three times more cybersickness in the auditory-visual environment than in the solely visual one.

Connection to Virtual Reality¶

VR therapy seems to be as good as CBT as a treatment for agoraphobia, if not better. However, long-term effects are not as strong after VR therapy.

Agoraphobiacs experience high levels of cybersickness if they are in a auditory-visual environment compared to the general population. This difference does not appear in solely visual environments.