A worked example showing how the 12 PIP activities can be described for someone living with agoraphobia. Every answer is written in the first person, in the plain wording assessors look for, and each one weaves in the reliability factors that decide how an activity scores.
Agoraphobia is usually described as a fear of open spaces, which is not quite right and does not help on a form. It is a fear of any place where a panic attack would be hard to escape from and where nobody could help you: a bus, a queue at a till, a supermarket aisle, a waiting room, a wide car park or simply being outside your own front door alone. The panic itself is physical. Your heart pounds, you hyperventilate, you go hot and sweaty, your chest hurts, you shake, feel sick and dizzy and become certain you are about to faint, lose control or make a fool of yourself in front of people. Once it passes nothing shows on the outside, and at home in your own chair you can seem perfectly calm, which is why an assessor who only sees you indoors can badly underestimate what it costs you to be anywhere else.
That gap is what your answers have to close. An activity only counts as something you can do if you can do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time. Reaching one appointment in six months, with someone holding your arm and a full day of dread beforehand, is not the same as being able to make a journey. Standing inside a shop doorway for ten minutes and then abandoning the basket is not going to the shops. If you only get through a situation because a trusted person is beside you, or because you have planned an escape route and sat by the exit, the form needs to say so, since those are exactly the things a decision maker looks for. Write about the majority of days, not the one good afternoon you managed the corner shop.
Two things tend to get left off agoraphobia forms. The first is how much your world has shrunk: how long it is since you last went anywhere alone, which places you have given up completely, and what now happens to shopping, appointments and visitors as a result. The second is the safe person. If you can only leave home, sit in a waiting room or open the door to a stranger when your partner, parent or friend is there, say what they actually do for you, and be clear about the days they cannot be there and you simply go without. Avoidance is a symptom of agoraphobia, not a preference, so describe what you no longer do and why rather than leaving it out. The example below does exactly that, activity by activity. The DWP always makes the final decision, but describing your day accurately gives your form the strongest chance of being understood.
What to cover for each one. Your paid form writes the full answers for you.
Agoraphobia does not usually stop you handling a knife or a pan, so be honest about what does and does not apply. What can count is a run of days when panic and exhaustion leave you unable to face the kitchen, so that someone has to remind or encourage you to make anything at all, and the fact that there is often nothing fresh in the house because you cannot get to a shop. If you can prepare a simple meal once the food is in the cupboard, say so plainly and keep the difficulty of getting to the shops for the journeys question.
This one is about getting food and drink into your mouth, chewing and swallowing, and for most people with agoraphobia it is unaffected. Mention it only if panic leaves you unable to swallow, or if anxiety kills your appetite for days at a time so that someone has to remind you to eat and drink. If meals are fine once they are in front of you, answer honestly and leave this one alone.
Describe how you manage tablets such as an antidepressant prescribed for the panic, and whether someone has to remind you or check you have taken them, because anxiety and broken sleep make it easy to lose track. Mention it if your partner has to collect prescriptions because you cannot get to the pharmacy, but keep the focus on whether you can take medication correctly and keep an eye on your own state without someone prompting you. If you are having therapy such as CBT or exposure work, say how it is going and be honest about sessions missed because you could not leave the house.
Panic and agoraphobia rarely stop you washing physically, so only claim this if something real applies. What can count is going days without a shower during a bad spell because you cannot face anything, needing a family member to prompt you into the bathroom, or a fear of being trapped and alone behind a locked door that means you will only wash when someone else is in the house. If none of that applies, an honest no here makes the rest of your form more believable.
Getting on and off the toilet and cleaning yourself is not normally affected by agoraphobia. Diarrhoea and a sudden urgent need for the toilet are recognised panic symptoms though, so if a bad attack means you cannot get to a toilet in time, or you wear pads on the rare occasions you go out because of it, explain that in plain words. Otherwise leave this one alone rather than stretching it.
Explain that on the days you do not leave the house nothing gets changed, so you stay in the same clothes or nightwear for days and someone has to encourage you to get dressed. Mention it if getting dressed to go out sets the panic off early because it means leaving is coming, and describe what happens then. Make clear whether you can dress and undress reliably without prompting on the majority of days.
During a panic attack you cannot take in what is said to you or get your own words out, so describe what a receptionist, a nurse or a bus driver would see when it happens, and say if your safe person has to speak for you. Between attacks most people with agoraphobia can talk and listen normally, so keep this about the moments the panic takes over and how often that is. Focus on being understood and understanding others, not on your hearing.
Agoraphobia does not usually affect reading, so answer honestly. If dread of anything official means brown envelopes pile up unopened until someone else reads them and explains what they want, or anxiety has you reading the same line over and over without any of it going in, describe that. Keep it about understanding written information rather than eyesight.
Explain who does the banking, shopping and bill paying now that you cannot go into a bank, a post office or a shop, and whether you still understand your own bills and balances or have handed the whole thing over. Be honest: if you can budget and pay things online without help, say so, because this question is about decisions rather than getting to a counter. If panic and avoidance mean bills go unopened and someone else has to make the bigger decisions with you, describe that support and what happens without it.
This question is only about physically standing and walking, so give an honest distance and do not put your fear of going out here. Most people with agoraphobia can walk normally, and the panic that stops you getting past the front gate belongs at the journeys question. If a panic attack outdoors leaves you unable to keep walking because your legs go weak and you feel faint, you can mention it, but be clear that the cause is the panic rather than a physical problem with your legs.
The tips above are general pointers. Your paid form gives you a full, ready-to-copy answer for all 12 activities, written from your exact conditions, medication, aids and bad days, not a general example. This is a worked example for agoraphobia; yours is written for you. £99.99 one-off.
This is a worked example, not a script. It shows one honest way a person with agoraphobia might describe their bad days, so you can see the level of detail and the plain wording that assessors are trained to look for. Please do not copy it word for word. Your own answers should reflect your agoraphobia, your worst and most common days, the places you have given up, the safe person you rely on and the help you need or go without, because that is what the assessment is about and that is what makes an answer ring true.
Notice that not every activity has to be claimed. Being honest about what agoraphobia does not change makes the difficulties you do describe more believable, so there is no need to stretch every question. If you would rather start from your own words, tell us about your health and we will write your answers from your own conditions, in the same first-person style, ready for you to read, edit and copy onto your PIP2 claim form or AR1 review form.
Tell us about your agoraphobia in your own words and we will write one full activity for you, free, before you pay anything.
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