Agoraphobia is not easily notice by the person but is obvious to others around. Friends, family or even yourself should be concern about it when you notice yourself or other people suddenly develop a fear and avoid going out of the house. The next thing to do is to get professional help for agoraphobia diagnosis.
The diagnosis is not something that is scary or painful. It is simply just a check up by the doctor who will take a look and analyse your past medical history. The doctor will usually check for head injuries, withdrawal from medication, and other possible diseases or events that might relate to the fear that appears.
There are no laboratory tests at the moment that is used to diagnose agoraphobia and there is a questionaire, the Agoraphobic Self-Statements Questionaire developed by Ducth researchers to help evaluate the thinking process of agoraphobia patients that can give them clues on the patient's emotional responses to the fear.
Agoraphobia diagnosis can only help determine if a person is having it, and it can help to b a guide to get treatment. There is a high chance of recovery from agoraphobia as there are many people who cured and resume to lead a normal life without having fears to stop them from normal daily acitivities.
It is true that agoraphobia is incapicitating because with the irrational fear tha it brings, the impact of it to a person is great where it makes them think of threats that are not real and make them avoid going to placecs they want to go and doing things they want to do.
There are many treatments that are being used to cure agoraphobia. Amongst the treatments, the most effective ones are the ones that help the patient change their thinking patterns and the develop their strength to overcome it by disabling false beliefs of threats.