Josh
The simplified definition of Agoraphobia is a fear of open places, or at least it was. It has lately been expanded to a fear of having no control over a situation or situations. This is because of the way to cure it.
You may have found yourself using the answer and not realizing it. Have you ever said to yourself "I can do this" when you had to enter a situation you did not want to?
This is control. It is you having control rather than the situation.
You are dealing with the mental here rather than the physical. A dog trying to bite you would be physical and you would deal with it physical. The only mental would be deciding how to.
Entering a building is mental not physical even though the symptoms (weak knees, fast heart rate) are physical. The program will give you relaxation techniques and coping skills and I will leave it to the moderators to tell you which sections will help you. I do recommend you do the whole thing though.
Learning these skills will reduce the physical symptoms reducing the focus and helping to take back control.
Then it is a matter of saying "I am doing this because I want to", Never ever "because I have too".
The first leads to confidence, the second just adds more fear.
Most phobias are sub phobias of Agoraphobia and treated the same way.
Using this technique to cure Agoraphobia also cures all the sub phobias even though the technique may be slightly different for each.
Once you can enter a building or situation then you do exposure as a test to see how well you can use the techniques you have learned. Eventually you will for the most part do it automatically. Neither you or anyone else will notice. As for set backs, and there will be some, they will be minor because of the skills you have learned.
Feel free to ask any questions at any time.
At one time I got so bad that I could not even drive to a store let alone enter it. All is fine now.
Davit.
