What is agoraphobia and how is it treated?

Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by a fear of places or situations from which escape might be difficult or help unavailable. This often leads to avoiding public spaces and can be accompanied by panic attacks. The most common and effective forms of agoraphobia treatment are Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy, which are among the various agoraphobia therapies we offer at our clinic in Toronto near Yonge & Eglinton. These approaches help you challenge your fears and gradually regain a sense of control.

What is the difference between panic attacks, panic disorder, and agoraphobia?

A panic attack is a sudden, intense feeling of fear with physical symptoms like a rapid heart rate or shortness of breath. Panic disorder is diagnosed when someone experiences recurrent, unexpected panic attacks and develops a persistent fear of having more. Agoraphobia often develops alongside panic disorder, as the fear of having another panic attack can lead to avoiding places or situations where an attack might occur. Our compassionate therapists in Toronto offer a range of effective agoraphobia therapies and agoraphobia treatment to help you understand and manage these interconnected challenges.

What kinds of concerns do you treat besides anxiety?

We offer a wide range of services to support your mental well-being beyond just anxiety. Our team is equipped to treat conditions like depression, trauma, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. We also help with family and life changes, personality disorders, and various other concerns such as perfectionism, grief, and stress management. While these are separate from agoraphobia treatment, our expertise in these areas informs our comprehensive approach to care at our Toronto clinic near Yonge & Eglinton.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is any type of abuse that occurs within an intimate relationship as an attempt to dominate or control the other person. It can happen between past or current partners, spouses, or in dating relationships. Domestic violence can include but is not limited to:

Control
Physical abuse
Sexual abuse
Emotional abuse or intimidation
Isolation
Verbal abuse or threats
Financial or economic abuse

Even after leaving an abusive relationship, individuals may have trouble trusting others or experience flashbacks of the trauma they experienced. In some cases individuals who suffered from domestic violence may go on to develop PTSD.

If you’ve experienced any of the above symptoms, you may be experiencing domestic violence. Please consider contacting your local authorities to help ensure your safety. Contact us, your local therapist in Toronto for a free 15 minute phone consultation to see how we can help.

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse includes any non-physical behaviours such as threats, insults, constant monitoring, or stalking. Verbal abuse may not cause physical damage, but it can cause emotional pain. Additionally, emotional abuse can quickly escalate into physical abuse. Emotional abuse is an attempt to control another person in the same way that physical abuse does. However, an emotionally abuse person tries to control someone by playing with their emotions.

Examples of emotional or verbal abuse can include:

Calling someone names or putting them down
Constant criticism or attempts to manipulate
Using shaming and belittling language
Intentionally embarrassing someone in public
Preventing someone from seeing friends and family
Blaming someone’s actions on your unhealthy behaviours
Making threats of any kind
Making someone feel guilty for things
Starting rumours about someone
Telling someone what to do and what to wear
Mind games, such as gaslighting
Forced isolation

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse is any intentional and unwanted contact against a person or a person’s body which causes bodily injury, pain, or impairment. Physical abuse can involve any of the following acts:

Scratching or biting
Pushing, shoving, or slapping
Kicking
Choking or strangling
Throwing things at someone
Force feeding or denying food
Using weapons or objects to harm another person
Using physical restraints
Pulling hair or grabbing clothing
Neglect

Physical abuse often occurs alongside other forms of abuse including financial abuse, sexual abuse , and emotional abuse .

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse is a sexual behaviour or act that is forced upon a person without their consent. Also referred to as sexual assault or sexual violence, it can include unwanted sexual touching, forced sexual activities, and rape. Experiencing sexual abuse can lead to shock, fear, sadness, anxiety, and depression. Long term symptoms can include increased anxiety and PTSD.

Signs and symptoms of someone experiencing sexual abuse can include:

Anxiety about specific situations that did not previously cause anxiety
Avoiding specific people or places
Persistent sadness or depression
Low self-esteem
Disturbed sleep or nightmares
Self-harm
Suicidal thoughts

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment can be defined as any form of unwelcome sexual behaviour that’s offensive, humiliating, degrading, or intimidating. Sexual harassment can happen in multiple ways and can take place at school, work, or in public. Sexual harassment can include but is not limited to:

Unwelcome sexual advances
Attempted rape or assault
Unwanted sexual teasing, jokes, remarks, or questions
Sexual comments about a person’s anatomy, clothing, or appearance
Hugging, missing, patting, or touching a person without their consent
Standing too close or brushing up against a person
Whistling at someone or using cat calls
Showing or sending unwanted sexual picture or other sexual images
Using language that puts someone down on the basis of their gender
Threatening job loss or punishment if a person does not accept sexual advances
Stalking or unwanted phone calls, texts, or watching someone’s home

Exposure to sexual harassment can cause an individual to feel stress, depression, withdraw from social situations, lose self-esteem, experience trauma, experience headaches or sleep problems, or have difficulty concentrating.