"I wonder what the Psych Professor will make of this..." I don't know Brendan. But try him out and see if he is for real. And I think your take on the subject is great. Who knows we may have a whole new genre of use for OS. After all everybody did think we were a little nutty. And by the way I made a video 17 years ago titled "Learning in Open Space" - Had great fun with the Agora where we are told Socrates and the guys used to hang out.
ho Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20854 Phone 301-365-2093 Skype hhowen Open Space Training <http://www.openspaceworld.com/> www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute <http://www.openspaceworld.org/> www.openspaceworld.org Personal website <http://www.ho-image.com/> www.ho-image.com OSLIST: To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html> www.listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: Brendan McKeague [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 11:57 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Terrorised by Terror/ Fearful of (open) space How interesting Harrison - just had a quick look at the origins of the word - apparantly derived from the Greek word 'agora' meaning 'market place'....so it literally means 'fear of the market place'...and, would you believe, 'agoraphobics are not afraid of open spaces themselves, but of having panic attacks as a result of being in certain locations' (according to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoraphobia, and 'another misconception is that agoraphobia is a fear of "crowded spaces". Once again, an agoraphobic does not fear people: he or she rather fears an embarrassing/dangerous situation with no escape. Some people with agoraphobia are comfortable seeing visitors, but only in a defined space they feel in control of. Such people may live for years without leaving their homes, while happily seeing visitors and working, as long as they can stay within their safety zones. The safety zones can vary, from not being able to leave home, or not being able to make eye contact. If the person leaves their 'safety zone' they can have an anxiety attack. Furthermore...."agoraphobia can be successfully treated in many cases through a very gradual process of graduated <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wiki/Graduated_exposure_therapy> exposure therapy combined with cognitive therapy <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wiki/Cognitive_therapy> and sometimes anti-anxiety <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wiki/Anti-anxiety> or antidepressant <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wiki/Antidepressant> medications." So - what do I make of all that..... agoraphobics are afraid of losing control of their self-constructed safety zones - and are susceptible to the onset of panic attacks.......entering an Open Space market place provides them with 'graduated exposure therapy', through an embodied experience, coupled with cognitive awareness of the freedom to 'escape' from situations that might cause such anxieties...and voila - the cure! I wonder what the Psych Professor will make of this... Cheers Brendan At 05:35 AM 4/04/2007, you wrote: After all there is already a psychological name for it -- probably even a diagnosis and treatment. Last time I checked it was called "Agoraphobia." Yep -- we're in the books as a clinical phenomenon. And maybe we even have the cure...??? Whoever said this was a sane group of people????? * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
