Phobias

Check with a psychologist.

- I.M. Soni

The young man stood aside from the crowds pouring into the station. Reluctantly he turned away to join a bus queue, knowing all too well that if he were to travel by train he would panic.

The fear of being trapped in an enclosed space is one of those phobias which requires a radical change of outlook. The victim’s real dread is not of a physical trap but of being trapped by life, of being buried alive under a suffocating influence – usually within the family circle.

The young man in question lives with his parents. Until recently he was content with this arrangement, enjoying leisure hours in the company of friends with no interference from his father or mother. One day, out of the blue, an opportunity came for work which would take him away from home. The post was attractive, but on his father’s advice, he turned down the offer. At the same time he gave up his girl because of mother’s disapproval of his choice of a possible wife. The fact the firm he was to have joined went bankrupt and that events justified his mother’s suspicions about the character of the girl made matters worse, not better.

Shaken by the discovery that his parents’ wisdom averted a double disaster, the young man made the fatal mistake of relying upon them in all decisions relating to his personal life – fatal because once a human being glimpses a life beyond the parental home, he is never the same again. For the first time he feels trapped in his limited environment, but much as he longs to enlarge his scope he dare not take the plunge.