A tale of agoraphobia

"I was a prisoner in my own home" is one woman's story of developing agoraphobia when she was 20. She offers some subtle insights:

Our world is full of social rules, invisible to most of us, but not for those with anxiety. You can't walk out in the middle of a meeting if you feel anxious. Neither can you run out of the hairdresser's with wet hair or halfway through a meal out. For agoraphobics, every situation is a potential trap.

My home was my sanctuary. Within these walls I could be myself, I didn't have to look calm in front of strangers. Yet the reality of never leaving is boredom and apprehension. Every day I watched a little bit of my life slip away, knowing all the time that I was young and that I should be out there. I had to rejoin this world but I had no idea how.

She's right: Agoraphobia is not just a fear of particular physical places (crowded theaters, buses and trains, office buildings). It's just as much about the agoraphobe's fear that panic will cause her to act in an inappropriate manner -- a fear of social disapproval.

She's also right about the costs of agoraphobia. Boredom, apprehension, the knowledge that you're squandering opportunities -- that's the flip side of not staying in the game, of not putting yourself in situations that might cause you to panic.