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Is there a typical agoraphobic core structure?

Hopkins, N. J.

Keywords:
Agoraphobic avoidance, self-characterisation, post-coding, reliability, core structure, attachment, and narrative.

Abstract:
Purpose. A heuristic PCT (Personal Construct Theory) model of the development of panic and subsequent phobic avoidance identified the PCT notion of ‘threat’ as a major causal variable (Hopkins, 1995). The formulation of this model arose out of the clinical observation that suggested many women diagnosed with agoraphobia had previously been focused on helping others, but life events had disrupted these activities. This report describes an initial assessment of the reliability of this clinical impression. Method. The ‘self characterisations’ of twenty agoraphobic women were compared to those of twenty non-agoraphobic women. The two groups were found to display largely equivalent levels of anxiety and depression in the absence of agoraphobic avoidance. Results.The self-descriptions of the agoraphobic women contained significantly more construct poles coded as ‘tenderness’ (Landfield) than were found in the self-descriptions of the non-agoraphobic women. Discussion. Further investigation is suggested that would improve the reliability of the coding procedure and incorporate controls to aid distinction between ‘state’ and ‘trait’ effects.