In ancient Greek, the word agora means market place.  Phobia is of course the fear of.  So therefor, it naturally follows that the word agoraphobia means fear of the market place.  It is as simple as that.

Agoraphobia is brought on when a person reaches a state where he or she is experiencing panic attacks.  It normally happens when this person has such an attack, he or she associates the place where the attack occurred with the panic symptoms and therefor will subsequently avoid visiting this place.

Panic attacks can happen anywhere and so an agoraphobia sufferer may become afraid to go to anywhere outside the home.  However, a crowded market, which could take a long time to exit and has isles that can cause a closed in feeling is a very difficult place for a panic attack sufferer to visit without suffering an attack.

The key to the agoraphobia cure is to being able to overcome panic anxiety disorder.
photo credit: avlxyz