Online Therapy for Agoraphobia: What are Your Best Options?
It’s currently estimated that between 4–5% of the population have agoraphobia, with most of them having agoraphobia with a panic disorder. While there are those who have agoraphobia without any panic disorders, it is much more rare.
What is Agoraphobia?
Usually, agoraphobia begins to develop after a person has experienced a history of panic attacks. This often leads people to develop a fear of places that are heavily populated, difficult to escape and / or are wide open areas.
In it’s more extreme cases, agoraphobia can cause someone to stay in their home at nearly all times. While agoraphobia tends to begin anywhere from the mid teens to a person’s mid to late thirties. As stated above, most agoraphobics also suffer from panic attacks or panic disorders.
A specific form of anxiety disorder, agoraphobia causes most people to fear ever leaving areas that they’re used to or consider to be safe. The most extreme cases are those people who can never leave their home due to the disorder.
What Causes Agoraphobia?
For most people who suffer from agoraphobia, the condition developed after they have had panic attacks — and they then start worrying about having more panic attacks. They will normally fear not only having panic attacks, but also having panic attacks in public.
Also, they will often try to avoid those places and conditions that they think may cause them to have a panic attack.
Agoraphobia is basically a complication of having one or more panic disorders. It is currently thought that severe panic attacks and traumatic experiences tend to lead to a person having the disorder. Also, genetic traits may play a role in which people develop agoraphobia, and to what degree.
It is generally believed that all panic disorders are derived from the body’s inherent fight or flight response. Just like in a real life dangerous situation, the brain and body will release specific hormones, like adrenaline. This is a basic human response to dangerous and stressful circumstances.
Basically, the body’s fight or flight response keeps getting triggered over and over again, with no real threat or danger present. This constant false triggering of this basic response is the root cause of panic attacks in most people.
Is Agoraphobia Considered a Disability?
The short answer is both yes and no. While agoraphobia can be classified as a disability, the Social Security Administration has a very strict set of guidelines specifically for whether or not a person can qualify for any compensation.
In order for a person with agoraphobia to qualify for any benefits, it must be proven that their individual case of agoraphobia is indeed severe. The people we mentioned previously who cannot even leave their home are just those type of cases severe enough to possibly qualify to receive benefits for agoraphobia.
A person’s agoraphobia must not only prevent them from working at all, it must also be well documented by licensed professionals who agree that the person is an extreme agoraphobic. For these rare cases, requests for benefits will sometimes be accepted.
How Long Do Panic Attacks Last?
For most people who suffer from panic attacks, they frequently last from ten minutes to a half an hour. Thought it is possible, there are some people who’s panic attacks can last an hour or more — though this is far more rare.
Panic attacks, no matter how painful or severe, are always temporary. Every panic attack ends, although the disorder of agoraphobia is a long term condition. Without treatment, agoraphobia is a life long condition. It is often treated with counseling, CBT and a variety of antidepressants and other prescription medications.
There are Various Levels of Agoraphobia
As with most other anxiety disorders, there are varying degree of severity with agoraphobia. The condition can range from mil or moderate — all the way to people who can never leave their house without severe symptoms.
There are three main categories of symptoms of agoraphobia, they are cognitive, physical and behavioral.
Cognitive Symptoms
Cognitive symptoms are those thoughts and feelings that arise and are generally about having agoraphobia in the first place. These are usually wrapped around a person’s dealing with the physical symptoms of agoraphobia.
The cognitive symptoms of agoraphobia are feelings or thoughts that can be, but aren’t always, related to the physical symptoms. These are normally thoughts and fears about your appearance and what other people may think of you if you have a panic attack in public.
A few of these are the thoughts that you might ‘freak out’ in pubic, you could be going crazy, you might look like an idiot in front of people, people will whisper and stare at you, you might have a heart attack caused by your panic attack, among many others.
These almost always have to do with being judged by other people in relation to your panic attacks or agoraphobia.
Physical Symptoms
Generally the physical symptoms are the basic fight or flight responses and the feelings throughout the body when a person is actually having a panic attack. While these physical symptoms and feeling cannot be avoided when someone is having a panic attack, many of those who suffer from agoraphobia will not experience them all that often, as they will usually avoid the places and situations that could cause them to have a panic attacks at all costs.
A few of the more common of these are chest pains, feeling dizzy, increase heart rate, sweating, feeling nauseous, hyperventilating, feeling faint of heart, shaking, among others.
Behavioral Symptoms
Some of the behavioral symptoms of agoraphobia are not traveling far from home, the inability to leave the house, only going places with a person that you trust and staying away from areas that might cause a panic attack, like busy areas, open spaces or crowds.
What can you do about it?
Professional counseling and CBT are by far your best options when it comes to treating your agoraphobia, but there are also a few things that you can do that may help.
Support Groups: Joining a support group is a great idea for most people with agoraphobia as well as other anxiety disorders. See if there’s an agoraphobic support group or a general anxiety disorder support group near you, talking with others who are going through the same things that you are can be very beneficial.
Stop Using Stimulants and Depressants: It’s a good idea to cut out all caffeine, cigarettes, drugs and alcohol as all of these cause either nervous or depressed moods and can not only trigger, but also worsen your panic attacks.
Get Some Exercise: Exercise helps your body to release endorphins, and exercise has been shown to help improve mood in most people when done regularly.
Learn Some Stress Management Techniques: Regular meditation has been shown in some studies to release tension and improve your overall mood, besides it’s easy to practice. Also, consider learning some yoga or tai chi. You’d be amazed at how much great, free resources are available on Youtube for learning all of the above. Go ahead and give them a try.
Get Some Sleep: Getting enough sleep has been shown to improve almost any mental disorder there is. It’s important in every area of your life — your overall mood, mental and physical.
Stay on Your Treatment Program: As mentioned above, counseling, talk therapy and CBT are the most important things when it comes to actually treating and improving your agoraphobia and anxiety in general. So get on a good program with a therapist that you like and stick to it! Remember that there’s no overnight cure and patience is key.
Can Agoraphobia Be Cured?
The good news is that agoraphobia is a condition that responds very well to treatment, but most people have difficulty trying to overcome it all on their own, The most common types of treatments for agoraphobia are therapy and counseling, in particular talk therapy, CBT and exposure therapy among others.
Can Agoraphobia Be Cured Without Medication?
In a word, yes. While medications don’t really have a solid track record of helping people to permanently get over their agoraphobia. In most cases where people suffer from agoraphobia with panic attacks, CBT (or cognitive behavioral therapy) is now thought to be the most effective way to permanently overcome agoraphobia and it’s symptoms. (Source)
New Research Suggests that Online Therapy has better Results than Traditional Therapy
Online counseling has been gaining more and more popularity in recent years, with not only a growing base of regular clients, but lots of praise from mental health professionals. Some studies have even shown online therapy to be more effective than traditional, face to face counseling. (Source)
One of the most important part of any reputable online counseling platform is that they only use real professional therapists that are licensed in their state. This is the case of all of the well known platforms, and all of the online therapy websites listed below fit this criteria.
These platforms make their counselors prove that they have the required educational background, years of experience practicing in their state and that they are also professionally licensed and certified.
Online treatment is a lot easier to fit into your schedule, no matter how busy you are. Because you are getting therapy at home, you don’t need to worry about how you look, driving to appointments or making a session during the traditional 9 to 5 hours.
This allows almost anyone to be able to get the treatment they need, and it’s far more convenient for them to do so. Many online therapy platforms even allow you to get counseling 24 hours a day.
Another big factor when it comes to people switching over to online therapy is that it’s far less expensive than face to face or traditional counseling. This is another reason for the explosive growth of online counseling, as now many people can afford to get the treatment they need who wouldn’t have been able to other wise.
Many online therapy platforms also offer unlimited chat with your therapist, or unlimited email or messaging. Some of the bigger platforms even have handy apps available, allowing you to take your therapist with you on the go.
Online treatment offers it’s clients a lot more privacy than face to face counseling, as in many platforms your therapist never needs to see you face if you don’t want them to. You can also get a therapist who’s located in another state, which gives a lot of people more of a sense of privacy in their local area. This also makes it quick and easy to switch to a new therapist if you ever want to.
The Top Online Therapy Platforms that offer counseling for Agoraphobia
There are many platforms to choose from when you’re looking to start a program of online therapy, as more seem to spring up everyday. So where should you turn for agoraphobia help online? We’ve reviewed only the top platforms that are well respected and trusted in the industry.
Online therapy is a fairly well known leader in the online counseling industry. They offer live video chat sessions, messaging as well as other treatment options. With their standard plan you get access to a live 1 on 1 counseling session for thirty minutes per week, as well as unlimited messaging with your personal therapist.
Personally, they’re my favorite platform in the industry, and I find their website easy to use and their overall counseling system well put together. They agreed to give my readers a 20% discount off of your first month of counseling if you sign up through this link.
For anybody who’s thinking about giving online therapy a try, Calmerry would be a great place to start. They’re one of the leading online therapy platforms in the industry.
Calmerry offers live, on demand video counseling with your personal therapist, in addition to unlimited messaging — any time of day or night.
Calmerry features an intuitive and simple to use platform that will match you up with a professional, licensed therapist who’s right for you and your individual needs. If for some reason you decide that you aren’t satisfied with your therapist, you can easily change to a different therapist at any time, and at no additional charge.
Calmerry only uses highly vetted, licensed therapists that have worked with many people with agoraphobia, not to mention many other mental disorders.
In a recent poll, 88% of Calmerry’s clients said that Calmerry was just as effective, if not more effective than in person therapy. And 95% of their clients said that Calmerry is much more convenient than traditional treatment.
They’ve generously offered to give all of my readers 30% off of your first month if you sign up through this link.
Betterhelp
Betterhelp is another widely known site that offers online counseling for agoraphobia. I found their web site and user interface to be pretty intuitive and easy to use, and their custom platform will automatically match you up with the best qualified counselor for your specific needs. But it’s easy enough to switch to a different therapist if you need to for any reason.
They offer video chat, phone calls and live online chats with your therapist, and they’ve received plenty of good reviews online. They are a bit higher priced than some of the other online therapy platforms, but that’s still much less expensive than getting in person therapy.
All of Betterhelp’s therapists are licensed professionals who must have practiced in their local area for a minimum of three years. They also require all of their counselors to have at least a Master’s degree, as well as over two thousand hours of professional experience in their field. All of this makes Betterhelp a great choice for online therapy.
Having now helped more than one million clients to date, Talkspace is another solid choice for your online counseling needs. They have very competitive pricing, and an easy to use system.
You’ve probably heard of them by now, due to their large national advertising campaigns. Talkspace offers unlimited messaging with your therapist, and there’s even a mobile app available so that you can get advice, ask a question or simply check in with your therapist at any time.
So whether you decide to try Online Therapy, Calmerry, Betterhelp or Talkspace — or more than one, it’s important that you’re both patient and vigilant when it comes to your treatment plan. While permanent healing is possible for anyone with agoraphobia, one thing everyone has in common is that it takes time. Agoraphobia, like any anxiety disorder, requires some time to be completely free of it. Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck with your individual treatment goals.
