Mental health problems >>>> Claustrophobia - how does it develop?

Claustrophobia - how does it develop?

Claustrophobia usually develops in spaces that do not have windows, where the exit is closed by outside forces (for example, elevators, pressure chambers, treatment boxes). Suffering from claustrophobia - a panic fear of a confined space, begins to experience an overwhelming anxiety about the inability to leave the room on his own at any time.

The reasons for the development of claustrophobia are deep in nature and relate to the reflex desire to free themselves from the trap, which is a closed space. The modern life of a person differs from his relatives of the distant past in that he is used to being in closed rooms (apartments, houses, offices, shops), where there is always the possibility of going outside, outside the building, and windows and open doors imitate the freedom of space, expanding it limits.

Signs of claustrophobia:

in a confined space, excitement begins,
heart rate increases,
shortness of breath appears,
sweating increases,
a person may experience problems with the clarity of vision (the picture of the world around them floats before the eyes).
the person experiences an irresistible desire to take flight (outside the premises).

Claustrophobia is usually an acquired phobia:

the fear of being alone in a closed room formed in the process of parenting,
may be due to frightening events that occurred once, associated with situations of violence in confined spaces (basements, technical buildings, elevators, closed deaf rooms, etc.),
can be caused by an excessive passion for horror films, where pictures of terrible events take place in confined spaces and are unconsciously fixed in impressionable people as dangerous situations.

A claustrophobic attack can occur in any confined space: in a car, in a train compartment, in an airplane, in a toilet, in a shower, in a basement (cellar), in a closet, in a dressing room in a clothing store, and even in an armchair by a doctor or hairdresser at times when there is a situation of inability to leave the chair at any time. Fear develops at the intersection of the awareness of the impossibility to leave the "danger zone" and the desire to do so immediately.

Treatment for claustrophobia includes psychotherapy, taking sedatives, self-hypnosis training, and learning forced relaxation techniques in moments of perceived danger.

Claustrophobia can be treated at home by choosing a room that mimics the space that causes panic, and training in time to stay in it, directing efforts to increase the time interval.

Claustrophobia is curable, like any phobia that has not yet taken the form of a mental disorder.