What is Claustrophobia?
Claustrophobia is a condition where someone experiences excessive fear and anxiety when in a dark or narrow room. For example, elevators, tunnels, trains, and even public toilets.
Symptoms of Claustrophobia
The symptoms of claustrophobia are similar to anxiety and panic attacks. The physical symptoms that occur in sufferers are:
- Sweating or shaking.
- Tightness in the chest or increased heart rate.
- Difficulty breathing.
- Shivering or redness of the face.
- Feeling of choking.
- Stomach ache or “butterfly” feeling in the stomach.
- Dizzy and feel like fainting.
- Dry mouth.
- Feeling confused or disoriented.
- Numbness or tingling.
- Ringing in the ears.
- Crying, throwing a tantrum or freezing.
Meanwhile, emotional symptoms that can occur in sufferers are:
- Fear of losing control.
- Afraid of fainting.
- A feeling of fear.
- Feeling overwhelming anxiety.
- Having a strong desire to leave a place.
- Understanding that fear is irrational, but unable to overcome it.
- Afraid of death.
Causes of Claustrophobia
Technically, claustrophobia overstimulates an area of the brain (amygdala) to fear stimuli.
The conditions that cause phobias are traumatic events and inherited genes from parents.
Panic Attack
Claustrophobia can lead to panic attacks. A panic attack is a severe anxiety attack that has many of the same symptoms but with greater intensity. Panic attacks usually peak within 10 minutes and then calm down.
Risk Factors for Claustrophobia
The situations or places that can trigger claustrophobia are:
- Elevator.
- Tunnel.
- Train.
- Public toilet.
- Robot car wash.
- Changing room inside the store.
- A hotel room with closed windows.
- Aircraft.
Diagnosis of Claustrophobia
First of all, the psychologist or psychiatrist will ask the patient about the symptoms they are experiencing and their triggers.
To confirm the diagnosis, the doctor will carry out additional examinations by:
- Questionnaire to help identify the causes of anxiety.
- A scale to help determine the level of anxiety.
The doctor will also look at the criteria for the disorder that the sufferer is experiencing, including:
- Experiencing an unreasonable or persistent fear when faced with a particular situation or place.
- Seeing the anxiety response when exposed to stimuli. Adults are likely to experience panic attacks. While in children, they will throw tantrums, cling, cry, or freeze.
- Excessive fear is disproportionate to the perceived threat or danger.
- Tends to avoid objects or situations that he fears.
- The phobia has persisted for more than 6 months.
- Symptoms cannot be attributed to another mental condition, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Claustrophobia Treatment
The treatments that doctors can provide for claustrophobia sufferers are:
1. Flooding
The flooding method involves inviting the patient to enter a confined space that is the source of their anxiety.
Patients are expected to remain in the room until the anxiety subsides.
The goal of this approach is to help patients realize that there is no threat to their safety while in a confined space.
2. Modeling
Modeling is a technique used to help patients understand how to increase self-confidence and overcome fears when faced with trauma-inducing situations.
The patient is then asked to follow the example that has been shown.
3. Counter-conditioning
This technique involves learning relaxation and visualization methods.
During this process, the patient will be exposed to stimuli that created the trauma, while remaining focused and applying the relaxation techniques that have been taught.
4. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
This type of psychotherapy focuses on managing phobia symptoms by changing the sufferer’s thought patterns and behavior.
Doctors can do this therapy by:
- Discuss early symptoms and what the sufferer feels.
- Exploring situations that may trigger symptoms in order to gain insight into how to respond to the condition.
- Learning how to recognize, re-evaluate, and change the sufferer’s thoughts.
- Using problem-solving skills to learn how to cope with symptoms as they arise.
Exposure therapy (Desensitization therapy)
In this type of psychotherapy, patients are gradually exposed to the situations they fear.
This gradual and repeated exposure aims to make them accustomed to and feel comfortable in the situation.
This therapy involves:
- Facing phobias head-on.
- Remembering and describing experiences that the patient fears.
- Viewing objects such as images or videos to approach real experiences, but still in a safe environment.
Doctors can perform exposure therapy in several ways.
This treatment step also includes relaxation and breathing exercises that the doctor can adjust based on the severity of the symptoms.
6. Use of drugs
In certain situations, doctors may prescribe medications such as antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications to help calm the anxiety symptoms that arise in patients. For example, alprazolam, clonazepam and diazepam.
Complications of Claustrophobia
The complications of a phobia of confined spaces are:
- Isolating oneself from the social circle.
- Disturbance in performing daily activities.
- Decreased quality of life.
- Difficulty undergoing examinations, such as MRI or CT scans.
- Depression.
Claustrophobia Prevention
There are several ways that someone can do to prevent phobias, namely:
- Try deep breathing exercises by taking a slow, deep breath in through your nose, and holding it for three seconds. Then exhale slowly through your mouth.
- Practicing relaxation techniques, such as meditation or yoga.
- Eating healthy, balanced, nutritious food,
- Adopt good sleeping habits, namely 8 hours per night.
- Exercise for 30 minutes five days a week.