Agoraphobia and its Impact on a Persons Life Essay example -- Agoraph

Agoraphobia and its Impact on a Persons LifeA phobic disorder is marked by a persistent and infatuated fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Agoraphobia is an intense, nonsensical fear or anxiety occasioned by the prospect of having to enter received outdoor locations or open spaces. For example, busy streets, busy stores, tunnels, bridges, public point and cars. Traditionally agoraphobia was solely classified as a phobic disorder. However, collectible to recent studies it is now also viewed as a solicitude disorder. disquietude disorders are characterised by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually drop dead suddenly and unexpectedly (Weiten, 1998).For a person diagnosed with agoraphobia, there are a number of restrictions and consequences associated with the disorder. A salutary consequence is the incidence of severe and paralysing panic attacks. In the early stages of agoraphobia people suffer recurring panic attacks when in cert ain public places or situations. These attacks cause the person to feel by and large uncomfortable in public settings. Eventually, fear of the recurrence of the panic attacks results in an obvious reluctance or refusal to enter all situations associated with the attacks. Other consequences of agoraphobia whitethorn include fear of being alone, fear of being in places where thresh might be difficult, feelings of helplessness, dependence on others and depression. These consequences place many serious restrictions on a person with this disorder. Agoraphobia causes people to restrict their activities to little and smaller areas in order to avoid crowds, and open and public places or situations. This whitethorn finally lead to the inability of a person to leave their headquarters without suffering a panic attack.As with all other phobias, agoraphobia is a lot acquired through classical instruct. Classical conditioning is a type of information in which a stimulation acquires the capability to evoke a receipt that was originally evoked by some other stimulus (Weiten, 1998). Describing and explaining exactly how agoraphobia is acquired cornerstone be achieved by identifying the antecedents of the phobia. Antecedents are the events that precede a particular response. In the case of agoraphobia, this response is a panic attack. Agoraphobia is essentially anxiety of ternary kinds, phobic anxiety, panic anxiety (the panic attacks), and phobic a... ...hobic pattern has been impoverished (Weiten, 1998).The procedures leading to the acquisition and elimination of agoraphobia are based on a number of behavioural principles. The underlying principle is that of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus (Weiten, 1998). Eliminating agoraphobia is basically achieving self-control through behaviour readjustment. Behaviour modificati on is systematically changing behaviour through the application of the principles of conditioning (Weiten, 1998). The unique(predicate) principle used here is systematic desensitisation. The two basic responses displayed are anxiety and relaxation, which are incompatible responses. Systematic desensitisation works by reconditioning people so that the conditioned stimulus elicits relaxation instead of anxiety. This is called counterconditioning. Counterconditioning is an onrush to reverse the process of classical conditioning by associating the crucial stimulus with a new conditioned response (Weiten, 1998). This techniques effectiveness in eliminating agoraphobia is tumesce documented.