["Agoraphobia--place anxiety/place fear--place-related vertigo". The classical description of place anxiety by Carl Westphal and Emil Cordes and its significance for the history of the concept and current discussion of anxiety disorders].
We discuss the history of "agoraphobia" and related descriptions as the "Platzangst" from M. Benedikt and the artile of E. Cordes, who used the same title "agoraphobia" as Westphals original paper. It is remarkable that Westphal and Cordes recognized the psychological character of the phenomenon, whereas Benedikt in 1870 suspected a neuroophthalmological origin for his "Platzschwindel". Regarding the details of these first three descriptions one can show that the primary authorities set up a discussion, which is still going on: The relation between agoraphobia, dizziness, fear and panic is until now object of many controversies, as shown in the final chapter.
Kohl
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D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000266:history*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D014717:Vertigo / Q000266:history*