Agoraphobia

Abstract

The authors focus on the nature of agoraphobia and on treatments for it. A variety of myths about agoraphobia are examined such as those concerning the patient's childhood, sexual development, and marital history, and the conclusion is that none of these helps in understanding the nature of the condition. The recent notion that agoraphobia is merely a form of endogenous depression is refuted. Of the four traditional languages of psychiatry, the medical and behavioural models are currently more in vogue than the genetic or psychoanalytic, but there are limitations in all models. It is shown why the behavioural therapies for agoraphobia may not be as universally helpful as implied by the recent research literature. The apparent success of both pharmacotherapy and behaviour therapy leaves models of agoraphobia which are at variance with each other, and the authors suggest possible lines of research which might resolve the contradiction.