Patrick Hall, Agoraphobia

Name: Patrick Hall

Age: 20

Disorder: Agoraphobia

Description of disorder: Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by anxiety in situations where the sufferer percieves their environment as difficult or embarrassing to escape. These situations include, but are not limited to, wide-open spaces, as well as uncontrollable social situations such as shopping malls, airports, or bridges. It is considered a panic disorder and the sufferer lives in fear of panic attacks if placed in those environments. Although exact causes of agoraphobia are unknown, some clinicians who have treated or attempted to treat agoraphobia offer hypotheses. The condition has been linked to other anxiety disorders, stressful environments, or substance abuse. Research has uncovered that agoraphobia is also linked to difficultes with spatial orientation. Individuals with agoraphobia are not able to maintain balance by combining their vestibular system, their visual system, and their propiroceptive system, where as people without agoraphobia can.

Has been at LPH for: 1 month

Medicine: Fluoxetine (for panic disorder), Benzodiazepine tranquilizers (for anxiety), undergoing exposure treatment

---

Background: Patrick was always a very peculiar being, even when he was very young. After having their first two children, Amelia and Benjamin, the Hall's decided they loved being parents so much that they should give it another shot. When Patrick came along, Mr. and Mrs. Hall were immediately surprised by how quiet and reserved their son was. As a baby, he never cried. As a preschooler and kindergartener, he never was upset to leave his parents. As an elementary student, Patrick never had friends to invite over or go out and play with. No, the little boy was too focused on school work. As a middle schooler, while his father tried to get him interested in sports, like his professional soccer playing brother was, Patrick showed no interest. As a high schooler, Patrick never brought home girls (or even boys) to meet his parents and never attending school gatherings. After graduation, something even more extreme and odd happened. Patrick came home from his ceremony, diploma in hand, and retreated to his room... where he didn't exit for the next two weeks. The Hall's had thought that he maybe was sneaking out, not wanting his parents to know where he was going, and that actually brought relief to them. Maybe he is a normal teenage boy, they'd thought. But no, Patrick stayed stationary in his room the whole time. His mother brought him meals when he asked and that was that. It wasn't until Patrick's 19th birthday that his parents thought something else was wrong with their son. He refused to go out to dinner with them, then refused a party thrown in his honor. In fact, when his father tried to physically force him out of his room, the look on Patrick's face was enough to scare and worry his parents to death. They let a few more days pass before calling a doctor. It took Patrick several months to agree to see the doctor, but when he'd finally realized that he wanted help as well, he agreed. It was on his 20th birthday that his parents cartered him off to LPH, tranquilizing him to keep him sedated as the doctor advised, and that's where he's been ever since.

What you get to decide: Patrick's overall personality (keep background in mind), why he suffers from agoraphobia (although no causes are scientifically proven, there are theories: substance abuse theory, attachment theory, spatial theory, or you can keep it as unknown), how he's responding to the treatment

Played by: Dave Franco