Home sweet home?
For people with agoraphobia — abnormal fears of open, crowded or public places — their homes seemingly become their refuges and traditional treatment focuses on acclimating them to the external places they avoid.
But University of Maine philosopher Kirsten Jacobson argues the problem for agoraphobics is not external but in a flawed relationship with home itself. Often the agoraphobic has a poor sense of what it means to be “at home,” stemming from overprotected, dependency-encouraging experiences in their childhood. As a result, agoraphobics feel vulnerable and incapacitated in public — frightened of a world in which they feel unwelcome.
That’s especially true for women, who have historically been subordinated within the household.
In the first half of the 20th century, women’s anxiety about leaving home and taking on new responsibilities “out” in society was evident in the increasing incidence of agoraphobia diagnoses. One study found women to be 89 percent more likely than men to have the disorder.
According to Jacobson, writing in the journal Human Studies, agoraphobia is emblematic of the continuing challenges women face in being recognized and supported as equal members of contemporary society. The very existence of the disorder and its prevalence in women points to their ongoing struggle to feel at home in the political world, she says.
People with agoraphobia need a supportive interpersonal and social world that recognizes, respects and facilitates character development, says Jacobson, who was motivated to consider an alternative interpretation of the disorder in light of the high rate of treatment failure, including relapses.
In such an environment, the agoraphobic’s home then becomes a site of dynamic communication with society, rather than a fortress against the alien world. And the agoraphobic learns what it means to be “at home” in public.
