Perceived parental characteristics and reports of early parental deprivation in agoraphobic patients.

It is commonly believed that patients with agoraphobia have suffered more frequently from aberrant family experiences in childhood. Some authors have described an excess of parental deprivation and others have incriminated parental overprotectiveness. Recent studies have failed to confirm these impressions but, instead, find that agoraphobic patients recall deficits in parental warmth and care during their early years. This report of a Sydney case-control study adds support to the view that parental overprotectiveness in isolation is unlikely to place the child at greater risk of developing agoraphobia in the future. Only when the child experiences a sense of parental neglect and lack of care, either alone or in combination with overprotection, does the risk of agoraphobia in adulthood appear to be increased.