Phobia

Nearing birthday number seventy, the author was at last presented with the solution to a lifetime mystery. Why had the schoolboy varied between honor student and failure? Why did the teacher have to get out of the schoolroom? Why had the writer followed his first success with a fall into despondency? Here is his case history in his own words. Some phobias are little more than inconvenient. Stay out of confined spaces. Avoid high places. But for the sufferer of severe agoraphobia, it becomes very close to staying away from life.