What Is Claustrophobia?

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Main Category: Mental Health
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  Depression;  Bipolar
Article Date: 03 Feb 2006 - 16:00 PDT

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Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder in which someone has an intense and irrational fear of confined or enclosed spaces. A person who suffers from claustrophobia may break into a panic when inside a lift (elevator), a bus, an aeroplane, a room with lots of people or any confined space.

What are the symptoms?

These symptoms may be relevant to many types of phobias (irrational fears):

-- Sweating
-- Accelerated heart rate
-- Hyperventilation, or 'over-breathing'
-- Shaking
-- Light-headedness
-- Nausea
-- Fainting
-- Fear of actual harm or illness.

A person with claustrophobia may:

-- When entering a room, start checking for where the exits are. Position himself/herself near the exits. Feel very uneasy when all the doors are shut.

-- Avoid driving or entering a car during times of day when traffic is most likely to be congested.

-- Opt for using the stairs rather than the lift (elevator). The reason being fear, rather than the extra exercise.

-- Stand near the door at a crowded party - even if it is a large and spacious room.

-- Panic when a door is closed and he/she is inside (more severe).

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today