HWN Suggests

My Battle with Claustrophobia + How I Deal with it Naturally

Even though little is actually known about claustrophobia, you CAN treat it with antidepressants + anti-anxiety medication. But since I really believe in doing things the all-natural way, here's what I do. As soon as I become claustrophobic in a space, I get the hell out off that space + find a spot with less people that I can take a moment to concentrate on my breathing...

Once you're in that safe spot, take a few minutes to concentrate on your breathing. Sit down or stand + breathe in through your nose + out through your mouth. Feel every breathe go through your body, at the same time telling yourself it's going to be ok. You can even picture a place that you love, a safe place....

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Featured

 Confessions of a Claustrophobic

I’m the girl that usually always takes the steps. Even at 9 months pregnant, I charged up flights and flights of stairs to get the labour ward over using the hospital lift! I know! I must share that this irrational fear has arisen in part because I’ve been stuck in lifts twice (argh) but more than that, I just don’t like to be contained in any way, or out of control. I’m a control freak when it comes to personal space.

Articles of Interest

A bit of claustrophobia is normal – stop treating it as a disease

“Claustrophobia” is generally described as an irrational fear of confined spaces, and it has been estimated to affect some 5-7% of the world population. Clearly, some people are more distressed than others when they are in confined spaces, but a fear of physical restraint is so normal that it seems illogical not to be somewhat claustrophobic.

Are You Claustrophobic? One Woman Opens Up About Her Experience

Perhaps you've wondered if you are claustrophobic at one point or another in your life. I have--I'm not cool with tight spaces--but I've never really worried about having a full-fledged disorder. One blogger opened up about what she worries may be sudden-onset claustrophobia. Could it happen to you?

Boxed In, Freaked Out: A Claustrophobe Navigates a Crowded City

Those who fear being in closed or narrow spaces, with an emphasis on the inescapability of such, often point to a trigger event. Mine was on an insufferably hot day in August 1985, when I got stuck for three hours underground — in a packed subway car with no air-conditioning on the train from Eighth Street — while standing next to a large and equally hysterical man eating a mayonnaise sandwich. I had no lingering reaction to condiments, but I haven’t been back on the subway since.

Claustrophobia (Fear of Confined Spaces)

Fearing confined spaces can very well be a way to protect ourselves from potential danger. However, people who suffer from full blown claustrophobia will think and behave as though they are in mortal danger when they are actually not. For example, someone suffering from claustrophobia may find it absolutely terrifying to take an MRI test or other medical test where the body is confined in a very small space where you’re advised not to move.

Claustrophobia: Elevators, tight spaces, crowds, and coffin-like black boxes

Claustrophobic participants allowed researchers from my lab at Ryerson University to use sleeping bags, masks, handcuffs and a coffin-like black box as a therapy to help treat claustrophobia. And it worked!

Claustrophobia: Fear of Enclosed Spaces

Claustrophobia is a treatable condition, with many effective options available. Treatment is effective in 90% of cases — it is a curable condition.

Claustrophobia: the Fear of Being Trapped

Most people have experienced brief periods of anxiety while riding in an elevator, stuck in the midst of a large and tight crowd, or even while playing hide-and-seek. But for people with claustrophobia, the fear of being trapped in a small space can be so debilitating that it interferes with regular life activities.

Claustrophobia: The Fear of Confined Spaces

The symptoms of claustrophobia are quite similar to what a panic attack would feel like. These can include sweating, shaking, chest tightness, nausea, intense anxiety, hyperventilation, or even feeling disoriented. As a result of these quite debilitating feelings, many people who experience claustrophobia take preventative measures to avoid fear-inducing situations, like opting to take the stairs rather than an elevator, or standing near the exits in crowded rooms.

Dad was Claustrophobic

Usually claustrophobia affects people when they are in tight spaces. Some may get headaches, dry mouth, hot flashes, chills, or a rash. However, the areas don’t have to be small. They may have a limited escape route, have certain smells or noises, be hot, or be full of people.

How normal is claustrophobia?

Millions of people around the world suffer from a fear of enclosed spaces

Psychologists closing in on claustrophobia

We all move around in a protective bubble of “near space,” more commonly known as “personal space.” But not everyone’s bubble is the same size. People who project their personal space too far beyond their bodies, or the norm of arm’s reach, are more likely to experience claustrophobic fear, a new study finds.

Resources

StatPearls

Claustrophobia is the fear of enclosed spaces. About 12.5% of the population have this fear, with the majority of them being females. Claustrophobia is a specific phobia where one fears closed spaces (claustro means closed). Examples of closed spaces include engine rooms, small or locked rooms, cellars, tunnels, elevators, MRI machines, subway trains, crowded places, etc. Claustrophobic people are not frightened of enclosed spaces per se but of what could happen in the enclosed space.