So we’re here in Rhodes.
This is the Old City of Rhodes and I’m going to talk about agoraphobia, because agoraphobia is a Greek word that comes from two Greek words. Phobia is the Greek for fear and Agora is the Greek word for the sort of place that we are now. So the kind of marketplace.
So in ancient times, the Agora was the assembly place for people in Greece. And because people were assembling in the Agora, then people would go there to sell their wares. And so it became a Marketplace. And so Agora gives rise to two Greek words one, ancient one is to speak in public, and the other is to buy: So agora ‘I buy’ and that comes from being in the marketplace, and also speaking.
Agoraphobia is ‘fear of the marketplace’. And sometimes people think of ‘agoraphobia’ as being ‘fear of open places’, it’s not really fear of open places, in my experience. It’s rather more, fear of the people in the Agora, the fear of those people. Fear of being around other people.
So, experimentally, what works mainly for an anxiety disorders of which agoraphobia is one of them, is ‘habituation’, getting used to being in The Fear Place. Getting used to the fear stimulus. And this allows us to become habituated. It becomes our normal. So initially being in the feared place, we feel a lot of fear. And gradually, over time, with say deep breathing and relaxation, we can get used to the fearful stimuli. And retrain our body to no longer feel fear in the place that we we are in.
One of the things that I like, to do with clients, is to understand how come how come they are fearful, being fearful in this place. And often times, the people I work with, are those who have experienced interpersonal trauma. So experientially they have good reason for feeling fear of other people.
How I think this helps, is that when when we’re trying to get used to the fear stimuli, it gives us something to think about. Something to believe in. Something to understand, a reason to make sense of how come I’m feeling this fear. And how come I want to overcome it. That I can see that it belongs to previous traumatic experience. And those traumatic experiences are getting in my way.
They’re preventing me from enjoying a beautiful sunny day in the City of Rhodes. Of being in the marketplace. And so getting used to the fearful stimuli, until gradually we get used to them, and it becomes our normal. That it feels safe and okay to be around other people in the Agora, without the fear. So to enjoy the bustling Centre of Rhodes on a beautiful sunny day. And I’m going to step down from the fountain and give you a view around, so you can see what a beautiful place this is. And how important it is to overcome those kinds of fears.