Invitation to Psychology

Chapter 11 Psychological Disorders 389

By far the most disabling fear disorder is

agoraphobia. In ancient Greece, the agora was the

social, political, business, and religious center of

town, the public meeting place away from home.

The fundamental fear in agoraphobia is panic

and its imagined disastrous consequences—being

trapped in a public place, where escape might

be difficult or where help might be unavailable.

Individuals with agoraphobia report many specific

fears—of being in a crowded movie theater, driv-

ing in traffic or tunnels, or going to parties—but

the underlying fear is of being away from a safe

place, usually home, or a safe person, usually a

parent or partner.

Agoraphobia typically begins with a panic

attack that seems to have no cause. The attack is

so unexpected and scary that the agoraphobic-to-

be begins to avoid situations that he or she thinks

may provoke another one. A woman we know had

a panic attack while driving on a freeway. This was

a perfectly normal posttraumatic response to the

suicide of her husband a few weeks earlier. But

thereafter she avoided freeways, as if the freeway,

and not the suicide, had caused the attack. Because

so many of the actions associated with agora-

phobia arise as a mistaken effort to avoid a panic

attack, psychologists regard agoraphobia as a “fear

of fear” rather than simply a fear of places.

Watch the Video Special Topics: Learning to

Overcome Phobias at MyPsychLab

trauma-related and

Obsessive-Compulsive

Disorders LO 11.6, LO 11.7

Two other kinds of disorders are related to anxiety

but have been given separate categories in the

DSM-5.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Stress symp-

toms, including insomnia and agitation, are

entirely normal in the immediate aftermath of

any crisis or trauma, such as war, rape, torture, a

natural disaster, sudden bereavement, or a terrorist

agoraphobia A set of

phobias, often set off by

a panic attack, involving

the basic fear of being

away from a safe place or

person.

phobias—such as fear of snakes (ophidiophobia),

insects (entomophobia), heights (acrophobia),

thunder (brontophobia), or being trapped in

enclosed spaces (claustrophobia)—may have

evolved to be easily acquired in human beings

because these fears reflected real dangers for

the  species. Other phobias, such as fear of the

number 13 (triskaidekaphobia), may reflect

idiosyncratic experiences or cultural traditions.

Whatever its source, a true  phobia is frightening

and often incapacitating for its sufferer. It is not

just a tendency to say “ugh” at tarantulas or skip

the snake display at the zoo.

People who have a social phobia become

extremely anxious in situations in which they

will be observed by others—eating in a restau-

rant, speaking in public, or having to perform

for an audience. They worry that they will do or

say something that will be excruciatingly embar-

rassing and that other people will laugh at them

or reject them. These phobias are more severe

forms of the occasional shyness and social anxi-

ety that everyone experiences. For people with a

social phobia, the mere thought of being in a new

situation with unfamiliar people is scary enough

to cause sweating, trembling, nausea, and an over-

whelming feeling of inadequacy. So they don’t go,

increasing their isolation and imagined fears.

Get Involved! What Scares You?

Everyone fears something. Stop for a moment to think about what you fear most. Is it heights? Snakes?

Speaking in public? Ask yourself these questions: (1) How long have you feared this thing or situation?

(2)  How would you respond if you could not avoid this thing or situation? (3) How much would you be

willing to rearrange your life to avoid this feared thing or situation? After considering these questions,

would you regard your fear as a full-blown phobia or merely a normal source of apprehension?

“I’m not a scaredy-cat—I’m phobic.”

Barbara Smaller/The New Yorker Collection/ cartoonbank.com