Agoraphobia & Mysophobia Disorders and Treatment Plan - Research Paper Example

In the movie, Nicolas Cage showed an anxiety disorder in which he showed stress for going to open places and avoided large and open areas. He also had panic attacks. According to psychological disorders this type of behavior is known as Agoraphobia. Nicholas Cage, showed another disorder. He feared about germs and avoided going to places where he thought that germs may exist. He also avoided contact to different people in order to not get germs from anywhere. This type of disorder is termed as Mysophobia.

In many cases, the person suffering from Agoraphobia also suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder (Jenike, 2004). Agoraphobia The first disorder which I have discussed in the introduction is Agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is type of anxiety and the person suffering from Agoraphobia is afraid of public and unfamiliar places. These people feel normal in their familiar places because they think that they are safe at their familiar places. And outside of their familiar places they feel threat. These types of people often have panic attacks when they move out of their familiar places and where they feel unsafe.

And the fear of panic attack forces the people to avoid unfamiliar places. And these types of people mostly become confined to their homes as they feel safer at their home. Mostly, Agoraphobia starts as a mild anxiety about a place or situation and over the time passes this fear becomes more deeper and most of the Agoraphobic patients stops going out into unfamiliar places because they become afraid that it may trigger feelings of anxiety or panic attack. Symptoms of Agoraphobia The symptoms of agoraphobia are as under: 1.

Feeling of anxiety and stress when going into unfamiliar places. 2. Feeling of anxiety or stress when leaving the safe environment. 3. Unwillingness to leave the house. 4. Loss of confidence. 5. Panic attacks such as sweating, difficulty in breathing, dizziness, nausea and increased heart rate. Mysophobia Mysophobia means fear of being contaminated with dirt or germs. Mysophobia is commonly known as “germaphobia”. This means that one who has a pathological and irrational fear of germs and it is related to obsessive compulsive disorder because it needs an obsession over cleanliness.

The mysophobe believes every time that he is contaminated with germs and wash himself time by time. Symptoms of Mysophobia The symptoms of Mysophobia are: 1. excessive washing, for example, repeated hand washing (an action which paradoxically makes the individual more prone to infection). 2. avoiding activities that are deemed unclean by the individual, such as using public bathrooms. 3. declaring the desire not to share any personal items, including utensils and toothbrushes as well as food (Penate, Pitti, Bethencourt, Fuente, Espana & Gracia, 2008).

Accuracy Related to Disorders The symptoms of both the disorders are same as shown in the movie Matchstick Men. Treatment Plan for Agoraphobia The treatment of agoraphobia is done by psychotherapists and psychoanalyst. And it is accomplished over time and executed with a close and trusted friend. This type of therapy focuses on replacing the irrational fears with logical, reassuring facts (Fava, Rafanelli, Grandi, Conti, Ruini, Mangelli & Belluardo, 2001). Behavioral methods are used in the treatment of Agoraphobia.

As a therapist I would recommend 12 sessions of psychotherapy and 130 for follow-ups. And the prognosis of Agoraphobia is the patient suffering from agoraphobia will feel normal after the above mentioned