SOCIAL SUPPORT AND AGORAPHOBIA - A REVIEW

Past investigations into the role that personal factors, particularly relationship difficulties, have in the development and maintenance of agoraphobic behaviour focus almost exclusively on the agoraphobic's ma rital relationship. The vast majority of those treatment methodologies that have addressed this issue included the spouse as a co-therapist, without considering the agoraphobics' wider social support framework. The present article reviews difficulties in conceptual clarification of the term social support, and presents a brief review of the literat ure about the marital relationship and agoraphobia, focusing on the ef ficacy of spouse aided therapy. Social support and agoraphobia treatme nt outcome are reviewed, highlighting the quality, types of other soci al support sought and elicited, and familial aspects of agoraphobia. E vidence of how other social support variables are emphasised and inclu ded in the successful treatment of mental health disorders is reviewed in relation to agoraphobia. The conclusion reached was that treatment procedures for agoraphobia have largely ignored the large body of gro wing evidence that social variables are strongly implicated in the dev elopment and maintenance of agoraphobia.