Prevalence/occurrence
The agoraphobia compared to other anxiety disorders (e.g. the specific phobia) rather rarely represented. The disease is diagnosed in 3% of women and in about 1% of men (measured within one year). Agoraphobia usually begins between the ages of 20 and 30.
Diagnosis
A reliable diagnosis of agoraphobia can only be made by a doctor (usually a psychiatrist) or a psychotherapist. He can, for example, use diagnostic criteria for agoraphobia in a personal interview to find out whether or not the person concerned has agoraphobia. At the same time, an attempt is made to take other possible illnesses into account, since the symptoms of agoraphobia can also apply to other clinical pictures (e.g. social phobia, specific phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression).
