title: Agoraphobia: a critical review of the concept.
abstract: Phobic avoidance has been widely accepted as the central feature of the agoraphobic syndrome, and the presence of agoraphobia has been used to define groups of subjects for clinical research. A review of the evidence suggests that agoraphobia should not be classified with the phobias; several lines of inquiry point to the conclusion that it is a variable feature of patients suffering from anxiety neurosis. Implications for research and problems with the present classification of neurotic affective disorders are noted.
mesh_terms: D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000145:classification; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000145:classification*