What is the best treatment for agoraphobia. Are you allowed to stay home one day or do you have to force yourelf to go out...

She may now be as perky as a cheerleader, but Paula Deen had to conquer agoraphobia to become the Food Network’s queen of Southern food.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is considered to be extremely effective in helping people to overcome panic disorders, and this can usually be achieved within 8 sessions. I use CBT at my practice in Hertfordshire and have found it very useful in treating agoraphobia, particularly when used in conjunction with a newer cognitive therapy, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). This article details some of the ways in which CBT and NLP are used during NLP Herts to help clients achieve freedom from agoraphobia.

We Are All Mozart: Agoraphobia: Writing an organ piece, and searching for the open mind

Feb 9: Costa winner Stef Penney on agoraphobia, celebrity - and why this could be her last ever interview.