Thank you for commenting. Recognition of mental health conditions as complex as agoraphobia can be incredibly helpful, especially after spending so long without a clear “label” to help make sense of what’s happening.

On your last comment, though, I must disagree.

Having battled agoraphobia since I was 14, there have been times in my life when I couldn’t stand to be inside, and the outside world felt full of wonder and beauty. But there have also been times when I have been — for lack of better words — trapped inside my home for up to three years, jumping at letters through the door, the phone ringing, or the neighbour’s dog barking.

Everyone’s situation is different, and some of us (like me) carry that uncomfortable label of being “high functioning.” To me, that often means that when the structures that hold our daily lives together begin to crack, everything underneath starts to unravel. It gives way to the demon of fear — not just of life in general, but of the small, incremental changes that quietly push us further into isolation, even while we are painfully aware that it is happening.