During the fall and Halloween time, we talk a lot about fears, the things that go bump in the night.

Every year, it seems, I see more and more houses go all out decorating for Halloween,

the same way they will in a few short weeks for Christmas.

They dust off, or don't, cobwebs are spooky after all.

There are skeletons and witches, spiders, and bats.

And I'll be honest, some houses are so creepy that if I were a trick-or-treating kid,

I might actually have paused to consider whether any candy would make it worth approaching

that home.

But the Halloween scares are ones that soon get boxed up and stored away until next year.

In contrast, more than 19 million people in America alone suffer from a fear that cannot be packed away

that aren't made of plastic. I'm talking

about phobias, and for some that phobia can be debilitating. The good news is that for many,

they are seldom in a situation where they're forced to face their biggest fear. After all,

for those with hemophobia, it's not every day that

one sees blood. For those with acrophobia, it's not every day that one has to climb on a ladder

or peer over a cliff's edge. But for those with agoraphobia, every day is a battle.

Agoraphobia, the fear of busy places or places that don't feel safe, is one that develops slowly. It often begins as mild anxiety and can become all-encompassing

to the point where the person's only safe space is their home,

and they often refuse to leave it.

The woman at the center of our case this week suffered from agoraphobia,

refusing to leave her home most days.

That is, until the day she left and never came back.

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