ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the privileging of the masculine constitutes a recognizable theme in self-help discourses. The audience of the self-help videos are shown to be subjected to the pervasive notion that there is a particular version of self, a form of 'normality', to which they should aspire. The notion that the self is under threat is supported by the linguistic accounts that accompany these images, as is the earlier suggestion that people can identify a central theme. The chapter argues that it is a Cartesian notion of self that is uncritically assumed by the texts in question, and that this has important implications for the treatment of agoraphobic women. Bill suggests that men are more likely to resist the agoraphobic appellation then women. The personal narratives composed by agoraphobic women draw on metaphoric language in particular ways, to communicate how their experience consumes and confuses their senses.
