Claustrophobia

CLAUSTROPHOBIA

• Claustrophobia (from Latin claustrum "a shut in place" and Greek φόβος, phóbos, "fear") is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms

Causes

• It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in panic attack, and can be the result of many situations or stimuli, including elevators crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and even tight-necked clothing

StuckThis painting embodies a persons emotions when they are going through a claustrophobic panic attack.

• The onset of claustrophobia has been attributed to many factors, including a reduction in the size of the amygdala, classical conditioning, or a genetic predisposition to fear small spaces.

Who is affected

• One study indicates that anywhere from 5–7% of the world population is affected by severe claustrophobia, but only a small percentage of these people receive some kind of treatment for the disorder

People with Claustrophobia often have major anxiety about getting into elevators.

Symptoms

• Claustrophobia is typically thought to have two key symptoms:

• fear of restriction • fear of suffocation.

Fear of Restriction

• A typical claustrophobic will fear restriction in at least one, if not several, of the following areas: small rooms, locked rooms, cars, tunnels, cellars, elevators, subway trains, caves, airplanes and crowded areas.

• Additionally, the fear of restriction can cause some claustrophobics to fear trivial matters such as sitting in a barber’s chair or waiting in line at a grocery store simply out of a fear of confinement to a single space.

• However, claustrophobics are not necessarily afraid of these areas themselves, but, rather, they fear what could happen to them should they become confined to an area. Often, when confined to an area, claustrophobics begin to fear suffocation, believing that there may be a lack of air in the area to which they are confined.

This Project is for a high school AP Psychology course. This is a fictionalized account of having a psychological ailment. For questions about this blog project or its content please email the teacher Chris Jocham: jocham@fultonschools.org

• Some people with claustrophobia are uncomfortable on amusement park rides such as roller coasters that use secure restraints. MRI chambers and other medical testing can also be difficult or impossible for people who suffer from claustrophobia.

Claustrophobic Persons Worst Nightmare

Reactions

• Many claustrophobics remove clothing during attacks, believing it will relieve the symptoms. Any combination of the above symptoms can lead to severe panic attacks. However, most claustrophobics do everything in their power to avoid these situations.

Claustrophobia Scale

• This method was developed in 1979 by interpreting the files of patients diagnosed with claustrophobia and by reading various scientific articles about the diagnosis of the disorder. Once an initial scale was developed, it was tested and sharpened by several experts in the field. Today, it consists of 20 questions that determine anxiety levels and desire to avoid certain situations. Several studies have proved this scale to be effective in claustrophobia diagnosis.

Many People with Claustrophobia can not have an MRI

Situations That Could Lead to the Onset of Claustrophobia

• A child (or, less commonly, an adult) is shut into a pitch-black room and cannot find the door or the light-switch.

• A child gets shut into a box.• A child falls into a deep pool and cannot swim.• A child gets separated from their parents in a large

crowd and gets lost.• A child sticks their head between the bars of a fence

and then cannot get back out.• A child crawls into a hole and gets stuck, or cannot find

their way back.

Treatment Types

• Cognitive therapy is a widely accepted form of treatment for most anxiety disorders.[22] It is also thought to be particularly effective in combating disorders where the patient doesn’t actually fear a situation but, rather, fears what could result from being in said situation.

In vivo exposure

• This method forces patients to face their fears by complete exposure to whatever fear they are experiencing.[22] This is usually done in a progressive manner starting with lesser exposures and moving upward towards severe exposures.

Interoceptive exposure• This method attempts to recreate

internal physical sensations within a patient in a controlled environment and is a less intense version of in vivo exposure.[22] This was the final method of treatment tested by S.J. Rachman in his 1992 study.[2] It lowered fear and negative thoughts/connotations by about 25%.[2] These numbers did not quite match those of in vivo exposure or cognitive therapy, but still resulted in significant reductions