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The
Agoraphobia Personality
by Stephen Price
The
following personality traits are commonly seen in people
with agoraphobia:
Oversensitvity to emotional stimuli
It takes less to stimulate the emotions of someone with
agoraphobia. People with agoraphobia are much quicker than
the average person to feel sadness, anger, hurt, rejection,
or loneliness. They are also more prone to feeling excited,
joyful, elated, passionate, or affectionate.
Besides feeling emotions more readily, people with
agoraphobia are more likely to feel emotions throughout
their entire bodies (which is why they have panic attacks).
In addition to being overly sensitive to their own emotions,
they are also highly sensitive to the emotional states of
others.
High levels of imagination and creativity
Most agoraphobia sufferers have powerful minds that are
highly imaginative and creative. This can be a blessing or a
curse. Imagination and creativity are both great virtues,
but with agoraphobia the ability to create powerful visual
images of dreadful possibilities can really work against
you.
Most people with agoraphobia can come up with an infinite
number of negative possibilities to worry about in a given
situation. They can also imagine a catastrophic event (like
having a panic attack) in a feared setting so vividly that
they can start to hyperventilate because the imaginary
experience feels so real.
Rigid thinking
Agoraphobia sufferers tend to perceive most everything in
extremes and absolutes. They tend to classify everything
(people, circumstances, events, etc.) as right or wrong,
black or white, good or bad, fair or unfair.
Agoraphobia sufferers also have a strong tendency to think
in terms of what "should" or "must" be according to their
own pre-conceived, often unrealistic and rigid expectations.
Many psychologists and authors refer to this as “should/must
thinking.” When people with agoraphobia experience something
to be different from how they think it "should" be, they are
highly prone to becoming anxious or upset.
High need for approval
People with agoraphobia are usually people pleasers. Because
they usually have a low sense of self-worth, they often rely
on the approval of others to feel valuable or significant.
Sensitivity to criticism/ fear of rejection
This excessive need for validation by others makes people
with agoraphobia extra-sensitive to criticism and can lead
to an extreme fear of rejection.
Feelings of overresponsibility for others
In most cases, agoraphobia sufferers also have trouble
saying no and will do anything to avoid conflict or
confrontation for fear of losing others’ approval. Their
high need for approval combined with high levels of
sensitivity often results in undue feelings of
responsibility for other people’s problems and feelings.
Perfectionism
Agoraphobia sufferers commonly set unrealistic expectations
for themselves and then fear not living up to them. Because
they are people pleasers, they also worry about meeting the
expectations they perceive others have set for them. Since
they consider anything less than perfect a failure and they
have an extreme fear of failure, their constant striving for
perfection causes them a lot of extra worry, stress, and
anxiety.
Need for control
Agoraphobia sufferers often have a high need for events to
be predictable and to be able to exert large amounts of
control over their environment or circumstances. In many
cases, they even feel the need to control the feelings and
behaviors of others. They live in fear of losing control and
after the onset of agoraphobia, feel a lot of anxiety over
hiding their condition to appear as if they are in control
to others.
Inhibition of feelings
Agoraphobia sufferers may feel a lot of anxiety over trying
to hide or suppress negative feelings. This may be because
they fear losing the approval of others, fear losing
control, or feel like they "shouldn't" be feeling a certain
feeling. Whatever the case, holding in feelings over a long
period of time causes a well of emotion to fill up inside
the person. Then when the person gets under stress, he or
she is likely to feel all of the bottled up feelings at
once, resulting in panic and anxiety.
Victim mentality
People with agoraphobia are more likely than the average
person to perceive themselves as victims of circumstances or
other people. They feel powerless to make choices or affect
the outcomes of their own life. The victim mentality is
holding the belief that the forces that govern your life
circumstances lie completely beyond our control. This is a
way of not taking responsibility for your decisions and
behavior. People who hold the “victim mentality” seek to
blame others for their behavior or situation in life.
Neglecting physical needs
People with agoraphobia exhibit a tendency to ignore their
bodies needs for rest or proper care. This may be because
they are constantly striving towards unrealistic
expectations. They are usually only aware that they are
tired and need to rest only when they become completely
exhausted.
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