The lack of an immediately available exit is one of the key features of many of these agoraphobic situations.
Most sufferers are women and the onset is usually early in adult life.
Depressive and obsessional symptoms and social phobias may also be present but do not dominate the clinical picture. In the absence of effective treatment, agoraphobia often becomes chronic, though usually fluctuating. It must be remembered that some agoraphobics experience little anxiety because they are consistently able to avoid their phobic situations. The presence of other symptoms such as depression, depersonalization, obsessional symptoms, and social phobias does not invalidate the diagnosis, provided that these symptoms do not dominate the clinical picture.