Emotional Claustrophobia: Getting Over Your Fear of Being Engulfed by People or Situations [Paperback]

Aphrodite Matsakis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2000

A vital self-help guide to managing emotional engulfment - "Authentic and highly readable, this groundbreaking book is a stimulating and practical guide to the difficult journey from traumatic isolation and aloneness to meaning and human intimacy." - on Trust After Trauma, Erwin Randolph Parson, editor-in-chief of Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - In both professional and personal lives, learn to confront your fear directly, eliminate or manage emotional claustrophobia, and gain control over your life - From bestselling author of Trust after Trauma, I Can't Get Over It, Compulsive Eaters and Relationships, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: You finally meet the perfect person: someone right for you, in every way. But the closer you get, the more suffocated and trapped you feel. The same dynamic may occur in professional lives. The thought of taking on a new project or a new responsibility feels like it will somehow swallow you up, and you end up avoiding interactions with supervisors and colleagues. The emotional claustrophobia, or fear of engulfment, that underlies situations like these is not a psychiatric diagnosis, but it can pose a formidable drain on time, energy and emotions. This self-help book will guide you through the fog to regain control of your life once more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Aphrodite Matsakis, Ph.D. conducts a private psychotherapy practice specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder and childhood trauma. She is the author of I Can't Get Over It, When the Bough Breaks, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications (October 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572242116
• ISBN-13: 978-1572242111
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emotional Claustrophobia Provides Explanations for Behavior, October 29, 2000

By 

Vanessa N. Weber "Vanessa 444" (Westbrook, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Emotional Claustrophobia: Getting Over Your Fear of Being Engulfed by People or Situations (Paperback)

Emotional Claustrophia has taken on the challenge of explaining various experiences of 'suffocation' and similar fears in every day life by linking current experiences with past ones. Drawing on a wide variety of experiences, primarily but not exclusively with relationships, the author tries to show how and why these negative reactions occur and how her readers might address them. To the book's credit, the author touches on a very diverse group of situations which seem to share some common themes. Where she may fall down is in not exploring each area in sufficient depth. For example, she raises some tantalizing questions about relationships one might have had with controlling organizations but doesn't go far enough in explaining how these groups experiences might lead to claustrophobic reactions in later life. Where the book excels is in the way it advises the reader to record, write or 'journal' their experiences as a helpful recovery tool. Making sure to encourage readers to contact a mental health professional if necessary, the author gives good, easy to follow, concrete instructions on how to track your reactions to events, what to expect both emotionally and physically as you process your feelings, and ways in which you might better understand them.