This paper reviews the research in
agoraphobia in four areas: (i) Is the group application of exposure
in vivo really the most effective treatment for agoraphobia? (ii) Does high group cohesion really increase the power of group exposure? (iii) Was the exposure mode applied in this study actually the first cognitive-behavioural intervention in behaviour therapy of anxiety disorders? (iv) How often do agoraphobics really
suffer from marital discord, and how does this affect the outcome of short-term, massed exposure-treatment? It describes the development of concepts and the evolution of knowledge, but it also points out the redundancies, misunderstandings and pitfalls in research that have hindered progress. This paper does not deal with the data quality of the studies reviewed; sometimes high data quality does
not result in high information quality, and vice versa. This is therefore not a scientific paper but a non-comprehensive journey through the recent history of research in behaviour therapy for agoraphobia. It is hoped to give practice-relevant information for clinicians and some new ideas for future research.