Entre la libertad y la constricción: el dilema de la agorafobia

This study aimed to empirically test the clinical theory, common to different psychotherapeutic approaches, that agoraphobia is psychologically linked to the semantics of freedom. The hypothesis was that personal constructs of “free-constrained” and associated meanings are predominant for people suffering from agoraphobia. Participants and method. The Repertory Grid Technique (Kelly, 1955) was carried out with 30 agoraphobic patients to elicit their personal constructs. A group of 30 of patients suffering from other psychological disease was used as a control group. Participants’ constructs were grouped into semantic categories using hermeneutic criteria and the data compared using appropriate statistical techniques. Results: The constructs of agoraphobic group were found to be significantly more connected to the semantics of freedom than those of the control Group. The empirical data seems to confirm the hypothesis. These results and their limitations are discussed in the light of their possible clinical applications and of methodological and epistemological issues raising from the study.