Once, when I was a kid, I screamed my head off when I tried to peel off my school jersey on a hot day but it just wouldn’t go through my head. Panicking, I knew I was going to suffocate and die for I felt confined, alone and restricted. Even after finally managing the [goddam!] sweater off, my heart kept pumping at a good 150 or so beats per minute. Little did my naïve self know that it was only claustrophobia at work.
Claustrophobia is a natural form of anxiety disorder where a person exhibits extreme fear of small or closed-in spaces, resulting in severe panic attacks. If it is any confession, claustrophobia is my greatest fear—and many other people out there will admit it is theirs too. Remember when RnB icon Robert Kelly confessed he has a fear of flying in planes?
For a better feel of this, try watching Fear Factor, a TV reality show that involves participants confronting their fears by performing outrageously daring stunts for an ultimate cash prize. Some stunts have lasting claustrophobic effects—being locked up in chains and dipped in a pool filled with live snakes and tasked to unlock and free oneself, or swim through three layers of icy water in a dark pool, pick up glowing sticks planted at the bottom and break the surface in limited time.
A research carried out by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s neurology department revealed that about two to five per cent of the world’s population is affected by severe claustrophobia, but only a negligible percentage of this group receives some kind of treatment for the disorder.
Other studies have shown that if one has a family member suffering from claustrophobia, one has the potential to develop the disorder.
Treatment to either manage or eliminate this disorder depends on its severity. The most common treatment used is psychotherapy, which involves counseling to help the affected person overcome his/her fear of closed-in places.
Among several other treatment forms is the use of medicated drugs to treat depression or anxiety. Such drugs will not cure the disorder; rather they help the person regulate physical symptoms linked to the disorder.
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