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This common form of social altercation -- let's call it Personal Space Invasion Syndrome (PSIS) -- has emerged as a malady of epidemic proportions. And if allowed to rage unchecked, PSIS can undermine your health.

"The violation of personal space increases tension levels enormously," says Robert Sommer, a psychologist at the University of California-Davis and author of the book "Personal Space." Sommer conducted research by going to parks and libraries and deliberately violating the personal space of innocent bystanders to see how they reacted. When people's space is trespassed upon, he says, "It provokes cathartic responses. They begin tapping their toes, they pull at their hair, they get completely rigid. It may not trigger a full-blown schizophrenic episode, but it's clearly not good for your health."

Then again, a full-blown schizophrenic episode isn't out of the question, either. In an online schizophrenia handbook, where families can get tips for dealing with their schizophrenic relatives, one of the cardinal rules is -- you guessed it -- "Allow your relative to have 'personal space.'"

The mentally ill aren't the only ones who require plenty of elbow room. Even a generally sane person like Jane Kelly, a 32-year-old news writer in Washington, says, "I'm very protective of my personal space. And I tend to get very angry when someone gets too close."

All that anger eats away at your health. The National Mental Health Association offers tips on controlling your anger, warning that "anger is accompanied by physiological and biological changes. When you feel angry, your heart rate and blood pressure go up, as does the level of your energy hormones, adrenaline and noradrenaline." Angry people are likely to "withdraw socially, sulk or get physically ill."

Neanderthals didn't have to worry about this sickening lack of personal space; they had plenty of elbow room out there on the prehistoric plains. So when, exactly, did PSIS become an issue? Historians say that our standards of personal space developed in defense against the crush of bodies that flooded cities during the Industrial Age. In urban centers like London and New York, people of all different classes were suddenly crammed together -- blue bloods rubbing elbows with rednecks -- and as a consequence the established social order went all to hell. So we developed a tacit code of courtesies and spatial no-no's to guard the restricted air space around our bodies.

In the 1960s, American anthropologist Edward T. Hall pioneered the field that came to be known as proxemics -- the study of man's behavioral use of space. Hall said that personal space can be viewed as an extension of the human body, and he defined four distinct zones: the intimate zone, for whispering and embracing (within 18 inches of your body); the personal zone, for conversing with close friends (18 inches to 4 feet); the social zone, for conversing with acquaintances (4 to 10 feet); and the public zone, for interacting with strangers (10 to 25 feet). You can visualize these zones as the expanding concentric sectors on a dartboard, with your body as the bull's-eye.

In most social situations Americans require a comfort zone of 6 to 8 square feet per person, and any violation of that buffer can trigger a reaction. "People use avoidance responses," Sommer says. "You get the New Yorker non-person phenomenon. They just shut down."

Next page | Bernard Goetz violated the rules of personal space etiquette