Agoraphobia

You stand at the door and can't get out. Or you stand in the middle of a square and the ground seems to sway. Your heart races, your knees go soft, the air runs short. One thought pushes into everything: if something happens to me now, no one can help me. The openness before you, which you may once have loved, suddenly feels threatening. As if there is nothing to hold onto. As if every step could pull you into the void.

Medicine calls this agoraphobia and describes it as an anxiety disorder, often linked to panic attacks. Typical triggers: crowds, department stores, public transport, open squares, long stretches without a "safe retreat." Many people with agoraphobia progressively narrow their range of movement over months. Eventually, their own apartment is the only place where they still feel halfway safe. The world shrinks. And with it, life.