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Phobia and counterphobia: family aspects of agoraphobia
Author(s) -
Holmes Jeremy
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1046/j..1982.00582.x
Subject(s) - agoraphobia , psychology , ambivalence , spouse , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , anxiety , panic , psychiatry , social psychology , sociology , anthropology
Twelve cases with agoraphobic and other phobic symptoms are presented. Their family backgrounds and marital relationships are delineated. A consistent pattern, the phobic‐counterphobic system, emerges. This contains five elements. (1) Anxious ambivalent attachment, which characterizes the previous childhood relationships of both partners in the marriage. The future patient has responded to this with a tendency to clinging behaviour, her spouse with a propensity to detachment. (2) A marriage in which, initially, each, through the other, escapes from their childhood difficulties. (3) A precipitating change with challenges the couple's illusionary unity. (4) A period of escalation and failure of reassurance by the husband. (5) The illness, which stabilizes the system and leads to a ‘compulsory marriage’. Therapeutic approaches for each of these elements are described.