| De volgende passages komen uit een boek dat mijn leven helemaal op zijn kop zette!! Alles viel op zijn plaats toen ik een paar jaar geleden dit boek mee naar huis nam uit de bibliotheek! Heel veel kenmerken die werden beschreven waren toepasbaar op mijn eigen leven! Omdat ik misschien zaken niet helemaal correct zou vertalen, heb ik de engelse tekst overgenomen en de woorden die ik zelf moest opzoeken tussenhaakjes erachter vermeld. 
 Phobic : To be phobic, the fear must not only seem unreasonable to others but be viewed as unreasonable by the victim. When a schizophrenic has an irrational fear, he usually does not recognize it's irrationally, in wich case the fear is not a phobia but a delusion (= waanidee). Agoraphobia : Fear of crowded public places today is believed to be the most common complaint by sufferers of agoraphobia. But agoraphobia never refers to a single complaint. It refers to a cluster of complaints; The agoraphobic suffers from some or all of the following complaints: 1. Public transportation: trains, buses, underground railways, planes. When crowded, these vehicles become intolerable. Waiting in a queue is almost as bad, whether for a bus or a cinema. 2. Other confined places: ("gesloten" ruimten) tunnels, bridges, elevators, the hairdresser's chair and the dentist's chair. These fears belong to the category of 'claustrophobia', but most people with claustrophobia have only a single phobia and are not agoraphobics. 3. Being home alone. Some agoraphobics require constant companionship, to the despair of friends, neighbours, and family. 4. Being far away from home or in places where help cannot be readily obtained (= snel geboden) if needed. The agoraphobic is sometimes comforted just knowing there is a policeman or a doctor somewhere nearby. Even when not in clearly defined situations that almost always cause intense fear, agoraphobics still tend to be anxious a good deal of the time. They are subject to depression, especially when thinking about how their life has been affected by them. In fact, depression is sufficiently common and severe that some authorities believe agoraphobia is a form of depression. The agoraphobic usually has difficulty explaining why they are afraid. Many say they are afraid of fainting, heaving a heartattack, dying amongst strangers. They fear becoming insane. They fear losing control in some manner; screaming or attacking someone (perhaps sexually) or otherwise attracting unwanted attention. The fears are groundless and they usually know it. Agoraphobics frequently experience an eerie feeling called 'depersonalization'. The feeling is hard to define. People who experienced the feeling describe the feeling as scary and veru unpleasant. It involves feeling unreal, strange and disembodied, cut off from one's surroundings. Agoraphobics are often inhibited sexually. One of the side benefits of recovery can be great improvement in the person's sexual life. Agoraphobics are often described as having a particulair type of personality. According to some observers, they tend to be passive, highly dependent on others, and give the impression of being in a constant state of alertness. Agoraphobia is the most disabling of the phobic disorders and the hardest to treat. When severe, it can be as disabling as the most crippling forms of schizophrenia. Although agoraphobics almost never require chronic hospitalization, they are sometimes unable to leave home for months or years at a time. Even milder cases involve restrictions in social functioning. Victims are unable to visit friends and neighbours, or go on family outings. They postpone (= uitstellen) seeing the dentist and may cut their hair themselves. Surprisingly, family life is not as damaged by this as one might expect. Spouses (= echtgenoten) will complain about their agoraphobic mate but their marriages apparently survive as well as most! The children tend to be sympathetic and do everything they can to help. The mental health of children does not seem to suffer. Agoraphobics are amazingly inventive in discovering ways to mitigate (verlichten/verzachten), their anxiety so they can maintain at least some social functioning. Agoraphobics almost always are more comfortable in dark places then in sunlight. Others can confront crowds if they have a bottle of ammonia or tranquillizers in their pockets (never used). If they go to theatres at all, the find a seat near the back to make a fast getaway if necessary. Everyone agrees, however, that the most reliable fearreducer is a trusted companion. Once the illness has developed, victims often have trouble deciding which is worse; the anxiety that occurs in the situation itself (a store, a bus), or the anticipation of becoming anxious. The agoraphobic may start feeling anxious the moment he awakes, thinking about the day ahead. Some find the anticipatory anxiety is greater than the anxiety in the feared situation- an observation with treatment implications. Only one study indicates that agoraphobia may run in families. Other studies show high rates of alcoholism, depression, and various anxiety disorders in the families of agoraphobics, with female relatives more likely to be depressed or anxious and male relatives more likely to be alcoholic. This leaves the issue of possible hereditary factors unresolved. Some Facts: * When patients do see doctors, it is usually several years or longer after the illness has begun. * Agoraphobia usually begins in the mid or late twenties, almost never occurring before 18 or after 35. ' PHOBIA, THE FACTS' is geschreven door DONALD W. GOODWIN | 
