Writing out of more than 50 years of clinical experience, Dr. Edoardo Weiss examines clinical syndrome, agoraphobia, from the viewpoint of Federn's ego psychology. He concludes that, in addition to a multitude of factors previously cited in psychoanalytic writings, there is a threat to the ego's sense of identity which has not been described previously. It is to this threat to the identity of the self that Weiss attributes many of the manifestations of a true agoraphobia.
Weiss develops his theses in an orderly, well thought out presentation, giving evidence of the good teacher that he is. He starts with a clinical description of the phenomena which he wishes to describe then reviews the literature, both prefreudian and later psychoanalytic writings, to see what interpretations and understanding of this symptom complex have been offered before. In successive chapters he unfolds his own understanding, as it developed