Always feeling a moment of trepidation on approaching an automatic door that it is not going to open in time.

This is a common fear which can sometimes develop into the chronic  phobia ‘Sesame Syndrome’, according to the eminent Quot psychiatrist , Dr.Uve Hartzhog , who specializes in this field.   His patients can also suffer from a number of variant forms of S.S. – fear that an automatic door won’t open at all, fear that it will shut again before they’re through,  fear that it  will turn out not to have been an automatic door in the first place , and  fear that it might not even be a door at all but simply a plate glass window which looks like one . Many of his patients are referred to him by hospital A&E departments.  “ My advice is that if a glass door has handles or shiny chrome push-plates don’t trust it,” he says. “And any door with a ‘PUSH’ or ‘PULL’ sign on it should be approached with caution and  , ideally , an extended hand. “ The  ‘trepidation’ mentioned here is most commonly experienced when confronted by external doors of unfamiliar public or office buildings where the automatic settings always seem to be calibrated to minimize the time the door is actually open – just enough to let the people in but keep the cold out. Automatic doors , for all their advantages – like in hotels not having to tip them – are fraught with hazards which even familiarity with a particular door is  no guard against: as you approach it you know it’s a door, you know it’s an automatic one, you know it will open , and you know you can charge at it with confidence. All you may not know is that the building is closed.Thus many patients get referred back to A&E by Dr.Hartzhog. 

(Trina Lavish, Kettering) - QQQQ*