Baby Blues: Agoraphobia After Having a Baby

Ask anyone about postpartum depression, and they’ll likely give you at least a vague description. Postpartum agoraphobia, on the other hand? Not so much.

Suffering from agoraphobia after having a baby can limit an individual’s life, making them less likely to leave home and socialize with others.

In order to recognize why new mothers are more at risk of developing agoraphobia and establish treatment plans to support these individuals, we need to improve our understanding of the relationship between having a baby and agoraphobia.

Below, we discuss why mothers are susceptible to postnatal agoraphobia, the symptoms involved, and the available treatment options.

Postnatal Agoraphobia: A Brief Summary

Although the research into postnatal agoraphobia is limited, some evidence suggests that around 20% of mothers experience an anxiety disorder in the postnatal period, and just under 15% of these cases are of agoraphobia specifically.

The general treatment guidance for agoraphobia is to try self-help techniques and lifestyle changes and seek support from a medical or mental health professional.

Why Are Mothers Susceptible To Getting Agoraphobia After Having a Baby?

The research looking into postnatal psychopathology rarely focuses on agoraphobia.

Postnatal depression has seemingly dominated this field. However, more evidence has come to the surface recently investigating the prevalence of anxiety disorders in the postnatal period.

Postnatal anxiety disorders

A 2016 meta-analysis found that postnatal anxiety disorders are more common than previously thought. After comparing 58 studies, they estimated that around 8.5% of postpartum mothers experience one or multiple anxiety disorders.

However, some studies report a higher prevalence of postnatal anxiety. For example, Austin and colleagues found that out of 48 new mothers, 20.4% had some form of anxiety disorder.

What about agoraphobia?

Of course, ‘anxiety disorders’ as an umbrella term doesn’t represent agoraphobia in isolation.

Luckily for us, Austin and colleagues broke down the anxiety disorders within their study.

Of the 20.4% of women suffering from postnatal anxiety:

• 33% experienced generalized anxiety disorder
• 29.6% experienced panic disorder
• 22.2% experienced social phobias
• 14.8% experienced Agoraphobia

When we consider that the DSM-5’s prevalence rating of agoraphobia in the general population is around 1.7%, we begin to see the pervasiveness of this condition in postpartum mothers.

However, this still doesn’t tell us why mothers are more susceptible to agoraphobia. In a recent 2018 study, Elena Ali explored the relationship between the postnatal period and anxiety (focusing on generalised anxiety disorder).

Ali suggested that postpartum women may be more likely to develop generalized anxiety disorder due to the overwhelming feeling associated with taking on the new responsibilities, roles, and demands of parenthood.

Perhaps this provides a partial explanation for the high prevalence of agoraphobia in postpartum mothers. Nevertheless, more research is needed to unpick this relationship fully.

Symptoms of Postnatal Agoraphobia

A 1998 study by researcher, Beck, sheds some light on the symptoms of postnatal agoraphobia.

Beck found that postpartum women who experience panic attacks often change their lifestyles to avoid recurrent episodes.

Some women sequestered themselves within their homes, while others no longer drove their cars or engaged in activities such as flying via airplane or skiing.

While panic attacks are more typical of panic disorder, there are some suggestions within the research that agoraphobia occurs as a complication of panic disorder, so the two may be intimately linked.

Furthermore, a 2014 study found that social situations were extremely difficult for mothers experiencing postnatal anxiety.

It’s important to note that the Beck and Highet et al. studies mentioned previously, did not specify that the postnatal life limitations are due to agoraphobia.

It may be that the desire to isolate is linked to other psychiatric conditions, such as panic disorder and other anxiety disorders, rather than agoraphobia itself.

Treatment for Agoraphobia After Having a Baby

As we have established, there is little scientific research into postnatal agoraphobia.

Consequently, the guidance on the treatment options for those who have agoraphobia after having a baby is lacking.

However, the treatment typically on offer to those with agoraphobia is as follows:

1. Try Self-Help Techniques

Medical sources recommend various self-help techniques. For example, the NHS advocates:

• Resisting the temptation to flee: if you’re experiencing a sudden wave of anxiety, try to stay where you are. Escaping or avoiding the fearful situation reinforces the belief that the environment is dangerous, making you more likely to react anxiously in the future.

• Grounding yourself: by focusing on something non-threatening in your environment, you bring yourself back to the present. Anxious thoughts and feelings are usually deep-rooted in the past and future, so remaining in the present helps to gain some distance from these.

• Practicing deep breathing: deep breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of your body responsible for suppressing your stress response system and bringing your body back to a calm state.

• Using visualization: visualizing a peaceful place can reduce stress and anxiety levels, encourage relaxation, and diminish stress-related symptoms.

2. Make Lifestyle Changes

The main lifestyle changes recommended for agoraphobics are frequent exercise, a healthy diet, and avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs.

Research suggests that caffeine can worsen anxiety symptoms, so the recommendation is to reduce your coffee, tea, and cola intake, too.

Consistent rest will also likely lessen anxiety symptoms, although this solution isn’t always easy for new parents!

3. Seek Professional Help

You can either seek professional help from a doctor who will prescribe medication or a talk therapist.

Doctors don’t always recommend medications for breastfeeding mothers due to the potential transfer of chemicals into breast milk. So, that leaves talk therapy.

Talking therapy has proven effective in treating agoraphobia, and it doesn’t have any of the nasty side effects of medications.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most widely-used therapeutic approach for treating anxiety disorders. It’s a short-term form of therapy that focuses on identifying negative thought patterns and preventing them from influencing behavior.

Final Note

Agoraphobia is highly prevalent in postpartum mothers when compared to the general population.

However, there’s still much we don’t know about the dynamic of this relationship. What we do know is that suffering from agoraphobia after having a baby can have various life-limiting consequences.

If you have postnatal agoraphobia, self-help techniques, lifestyle changes, and seeking professional help may start you off on the road to recovery.