STRESS AS A FACTOR IN PSYCHONEUROSIS: AGORAPHOBIA
Posted on April 23, 2009, under Anti Depressants-Sleeping Aid.
“I am housebound. Simply can’t go out. I am perfectly well. Except I can’t go out. Get to the gate and feel tense. Down the street a little and I am shaking like mad. Buy something in the corner shop. Rush home. Exhausted for the rest of the day. It’s the going out that does it. Spoiling my life. Not so bad if my husband is with me. But even then it is not right. Have to get him to take me home. He gets cross. I don’t know what will happen to me.”
Agoraphobia occurs in both men and women, but is more common in women.
Various psychological mechanisms may operate to cause it. Sometimes there may be some incident of the person feeling suddenly ill when out by herself. This may result from any acute infection. She may be frightened that she may faint. She gets home, but next time she goes out she may have the fear of a recurrence. To overcome this she seeks the company of her husband. This may easily develop into an unconscious way of keeping her husband with her.
Sometimes agoraphobia has a sexual background to it. We all have sexual desires and fantasies. When first travelling alone, girl or young man, in a strange town, the feeling comes that this is different from home. Nobody knows me. Do what I like. A pick-up, why not? Fun. Then a panic and retreat off the streets. She might have done something that she would have been sorry for. And we have the genesis of a case of agoraphobia.
As with the other phobias, agoraphobics often gain great help by reducing their level of stress by meditation.
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