Agoraphobia is often viewed as the opposite of claustrophobia, but the reality is a little different to public perception. John Hopkins defines a phobia as an “uncontrollable, irrational, and lasting fear of a certain object, situation, or activity”. While claustrophobia is an irrational fear of confined spaces, agoraphobia is not the fear of open spaces, but rather, the fear of being in a situation from which there is no escape.