Women's Phobia

Women, of course, always accepted in earlier times to have a more delicate constitution, were not so reticent about admit¬ting to nervous problems. There are many examples during the last hundred years or so of women who were quite possibly suffering from what we would now recognise as agoraphobia. Shock, anxiety, frustration and physical ill health often lie behind the development of agoraphobic symptoms. How many swooning Victorian matrons languished on their day¬beds? How many wilting maidens suffered fits of Vapours' or slipped into a decline that might today be recognised as agoraphobia?

In later life, Florence Nightingale, with no physical outlet for her tremendous nervous energy, became housebound and was a semi-invalid for many years. After the shock of Prince Albert's death, Queen Victoria retreated from public life, unable to face her subjects en masse. Elizabeth Barrett was confined to her couch with physical symptoms which miracu¬lously improved after Robert Browning whisked her off to Italy and married her. Retrospectively we can only guess, but each of these ladies displayed classic agoraphobic tendencies. Even in fiction there is Charles Dickens' Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, housebound since being jilted on her wedding day.

Not all agoraphobia sufferers experience constant panic attacks. Some people, women in particular, may become housebound for a variety of reasons, resulting in a loss of confidence and unwillingness to leave the house. The longer this lasts, the more nervous the subject becomes as the outside world appears hostile and threatening. If she is persuaded to go further than her base she may well experience rising anxiety, leading to a full-blown panic attack.

Many agoraphobics are free from their fear when driving because the family car can feel like an extension of the home; like a snail or a tortoise, these sufferers would like to carry with them a permanent shell into which they can retreat at any time.



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