The term agoraphobia derives from the Greek word ‘agora’ which translates as ‘open place’ or ‘market place’ so ‘agoraphobia’, in literal terms (as opposed to clinical terms) means fear of ‘open places’ or ‘fear of the market place.’
Agoraphobia … Read the rest
A study carried out by Sarkar et al. at Imperial College, University of London and published in the scientific journal Clinical Endocrinology suggests that, if a mother is highly stressed during pregnancy, her consequent excessive production of stress hormones may … Read the rest
According to Mobbs, the brain consists of two areas involved in how we experience fear as shown below :
It is becoming increasingly recognized that overactivity in the brain’s fear circuitry may be of fundamental relevance to not only complex-PTSD … Read the rest
We have seen from other articles published on this site that severe and protracted childhood trauma, resulting in the child being frequently subjected to extreme stress, can damage the development of the part of the brain known as … Read the rest
Mothers who are suffering severe and protracted stress (e.g. due to an anxiety disorder) for a significant period of time whilst bringing up their infants are likely to be less attentive to their off-spring than are mothers who are mentally … Read the rest
We have seen that the experience of severe childhood trauma can lead to severe symptoms hyperarousal in adult life due to damage incurred to the development of the brain’s limbic system. Below I provide some definitions of hyperarousal:… Read the rest
We have seen from previous articles that I have posted on this site that, if we suffered chronic stress during our childhood, our ability to deal with stress as adults can be drastically diminished, making it difficult to cope … Read the rest
Are You Afraid Of Going To Sleep?
My so-called ‘sleep’ (it’s stretching things to dignify it with that word, actually, even in inverted commas), in the past, has been appalling: it would take me at least three hours to … Read the rest
I have already published on this site a great many articles about how those of us who have suffered significant childhood trauma are at considerably higher risk of suffering from psychiatric conditions, as adults than average. One such … Read the rest
Most of us are already familiar with the concept of the ‘fight or flight’ response to perceived danger, namely that when presented with a threat our bodies respond by preparing us to fight against it or run from it. This … Read the rest
If our experiences of relationships in childhood are largely negative and painful, in extreme cases, we may develop social phobia as adults, or, in even more severe cases, avoidant personality disorder (AvPD).
APD is similar to … Read the rest
Anxious personality types often result from childhood trauma. Research has shown that there are 7 major factors which influence the way our personalities develop. These are:
– the way in which we are disciplined in childhood
– our … Read the rest
