Agoraphobia: Cure by hypnosis.
Case 548. (Hurst, 1917.)
A captain was (with one lieutenant) the sole survivor among his battalion officers at Ypres. The captain received the D. S. O. for his gallant conduct in saving the remnant of his battalion. He now felt he could never face responsibility again and that he would disgrace himself if he ever got into danger. He developed a terrible dread of open places and became more and more depressed. When he heard that there was going to be an attack at Neuve Chapelle, he broke down but managed to get through the first day of the battle. He was worse off than ever in the evening, felt that he could not face another day’s fighting, was invalided home, and arrived in a condition of exhaustion and feeling of disgrace. He had bad dreams at night. Rest was insufficient to restore confidence. Hypnosis was followed by rapid improvement, and the man was soon able to get back to duty.
Re agoraphobia, see Section A, XI, Psychopathoses, and also Steiner’s case (182) of claustrophobia, in which shells were preferred to safety in a tunnel.