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Agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder characterized by people’s irrational fear of open spaces, may be related to a natural behavior among animals to avoid predators, according to a study in Biological Psychiatry.

Most animal species stay close to the edges of open spaces and only later explore the center, an instinctive, self-protective behavior known as thigmotaxis, the researchers said. People with agoraphobia, or at risk of developing the disorder, also spent significantly more time near the edge of large open areas compared with control subjects, the study found.

An exaggerated form of thigmotaxis may be the biological basis of agoraphobic fear, the study suggests. The disorder affects fewer than 2% of U.S. adults, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“Knowing that open fields are evolutionary triggers of anxiety may help patients understand the origins of their fear and reduce their despair,” lead researcher Dr. Paul Pauli, professor of biological psychology, clinical psychology and psychotherapy at the University of Würzburg in Germany, said in an email. This knowledge may motivate patients to seek treatment, he added.

The study involved 16 agoraphobics paired with 16 controls without the disorder, and 18 highly anxious people paired with 19 low-anxiety controls.

The subjects, who were 18 to 60 years old, took a solitary 15-minute walk through a soccer field hedged by a natural wall of shrubs and trees. Agoraphobics spent 90% of the walk near the perimeter, compared with 68% by the controls. The high- and low-anxiety subjects spent 78% and 70% of their time near the edge, respectively. The agoraphobic and high-anxiety subjects also walked significantly closer to the wall.

By
Ann Lukits
Wall Street Journal