ABSTRACT
One might be tempted to think that vertigo associated with the alternation of imprisonment and escape is simply the juxtaposition of the vertigo associated with the feeling of being dropped into the void by the object (vertigo related to being dropped), and the opposite type of vertigo, that of being kept prisoner by the object (suction-related vertigo). This is reminiscent of the inseparable alternation of claustrophobia and agoraphobia. The claustrophobic patient is afraid of staying in a closed space: he imagines that he is being kept prisoner in it; now, very often this self-same patient also suffers from agoraphobia: when he is out in the open he feels lost in the void, because he does not notice the presence of a whole network of connections between him and his surroundings, which would enable him to find out where he is. It is clear that the problem of claustrophobic and agoraphobic patients in relating to their surroundings often reflects the difficulties they have in structuring their psychic space and in relating to internal objects.
