This book will help you to both understand your agoraphobia and learn techniques so that you can unlock the door to reclaiming your freedom. Written in a friendly, engaging (and jargon-free!) style, this self-help guide encourages interactive reading through tables, illustrations and worksheets. It also has some handy top tips on how to deal with any setbacks along the way. Case studies illustrate the use of the therapy and demonstrate how you can gradually increase your tolerance for the situations that you fear and avoid.

The How to Beat series of books has emerged from recent, revolutionary healthcare service innovations which have made effective psychological treatments available to more people than ever before. The books are designed to allow those who experience common mental health problems to either help themselves to recover or get the best possible benefit out of their contact with health professionals. They contain easy to understand treatments drawn from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) which is recommended by the scientific evidence. They are written by authors with considerable experience in the field of CBT training, research and clinical practice.

Pamela Myles-Hooton worked as an accredited cognitive behavioural therapist for over twenty years and is an honorary fellow of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP). She wrote How to overcome Agoraphobia and co-wrote The CBT Handbook. She spent over eleven years training others in delivering evidence-based interventions at the University of Reading, and later worked with NHS Education for Scotland to develop a training programme for mental health staff who help people experiencing anxiety and depression.