Monday, 31 March 2014

Project Research on Agoraphobia - Character Development

In order to further develop our character and share with the actor some further information to work with, I have compiled the following research on Agoraphobia and how the condition presents itself in an individual. I have underlined specific points that stood out to me and have also included a few extra notes on how these could be seen within our own character and their situation :

 Agoraphobia is a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult, or help wouldn't be available if things go wrong.
Many people assume that agoraphobia is simply a fear of open spaces but it is more complex than that.

 A person with agoraphobia may be scared of:
-       ** moving from one place to another – moving from one side of the room to the other may appear difficult for our character? **

Symptoms/behaviours

-   Panic attack symptoms – rapid heartbeat & breathing, feeling hot and sick.
-   Symptoms of stress
-   Avoidance -

avoid facing anxieties/fears –work around going outdoors
set design of the room could be experimented with around this idea, e.g. many food tins piled up in a set part of the room, online order forms, collections of items that would usually involve going outside to get, items that would usually be in other rooms of a house all in the one space etc.

 
-  Agoraphobia can also include fears associated with being left alone and the idea of being 'trapped'. character’s room can be used as a place of safety, place where character feels nothing can go wrong.

-   Can range in severity from sufferers who can travel short distances to those who are house or room-bound – character is suffering from a severe form of Agoraphobia.

Agoraphobia is not only a fear of going outdoors or of open spaces, but a fear of escape being difficult. It is a hard phobia to describe as the fears and symptoms can be different amongst individual sufferers.

Causes

panic disorder - an anxiety disorder in which the individual experiences panic attacks and moments of intense fear. The sufferer may associate panic attacks with places or situations where they occur, and then avoid these places or situations.
Traumatic events such as bereavement may contribute towards agoraphobia (character has a back story of being a soldier in the war – even though the viewer does not get a full insight or explanation into exactly what happened or of what this entailed, the set design of the room and behaviours/development of the character demonstrates that they have had some sort of a troubled past)

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