I am one of those that suffer from this phobia. I was five years old when the first real symptoms appeared. My father was in the Air Force and stationed in Germany. I was playing with my younger brother and his hard metal cars. He got mad for some reason and threw one at me, hitting my head above my eye. It was cut open, bleeding badly and needed stitches. My Dad took me to emergency to get stitched up. They had me lay on a table and proceeded to put a cloth over my face. This cloth had a hole in it where my bloody eye would show through and be mended. The moment the cloth covered my face, I went into panic mode. It ended up taking 7 men to hold down this five year old in order to stitch my eye. I don’t personally remember that experience but heard about it many times from my Dad. That may have been my first noticeable incident of Claustrophobia.
From Wikipedia:
“Claustrophobia is typically thought to have two key symptoms: fear of restriction and fear of suffocation. A typical claustrophobic will fear restriction in at least one, if not several, of the following areas: small rooms, locked rooms, tunnels, cellars, elevators, subway trains, caves, 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 said 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 or any combination of the above.”
There have been other times when I felt the panicking coming on when in a small enclosed space, but was able to get out of it before it got bad. One time was at a George Strait concert. I went with my sister and her friend. My sister suffers from Claustrophobia even more than I do. At the end of the concert, we were all aloud to rush the stage and get a closer look at George. Of course we wanted that and headed up there with many others. My sister and I were standing side by side and quickly surrounded by lots of people. They started pushing us and squeezing in closer. Both of us immediately back out of the crowd right before the panic set in. We ended up standing on chairs and still got a close look at George’s handsome face while her friend was squished against the stage and got to smack his hand.
Another time was in the Empire State Building’s elevator. I typically don’t like elevators and try to ride them out without any panicking setting in. I also won’t go in them if they are crowded. This elevator was different; they pack people in like sardines and you ride over 200 floors to the top. I immediately got in the front and over to the side. I did not want to get shoved into the back. That wouldn’t have been good. I then closed my eyes the entire ride of the elevator, going up and then going back down. I wouldn’t let that elevator ride stop me from seeing that amazing view from the top of the Empire State Building. I typically try not to put myself in situations where I end up in tiny confined spaces. When my family took a trip to the Queen Mary, they toured the submarine sitting beside the Queen Mary and I chose not to. They said that it was a good thing because some of the spaces were very small.
I don’t just have to put myself in situations where panicking may set in, I’m not able to watch someone else do it. There have been many times I’ll be watching a show on TV and if someone is crawling through a teeny tiny tunnel, I feel somewhat panicky. I can feel shortness of breath coming on and then the anxiety will start. It is not always the crawling through but the fear of getting stuck that tends to scare me the most. I have even waked myself up on several occasions dreaming that I was in that situation. The panicking and fear can wake me up from a sound sleep.
Claustrophobia is something I have lived with for a long time. Even though I feel it take over some aspects of my life, I can control it for the most part.
~Julie~
10 comments:
I've counseled people with phobias a lot over the years and that is a very common one. In fact, as a medical transcriptionist, I can tell you that a great many of people needing an MRI can't do it. Once inside the tube and told to stay still, they freak. I used to have problems with it because my siblings would wrap me in a blanket as a kid like a mummy and then leave me. I couldn't get out of it. Sometimes, they would sit on me and tickle me and I'd get hysterical because I couldn't breathe. To this day, I hate to wear high-neck t-shirts for fear of it getting caught and getting me around the neck. We all have subtle forms and some have debilitating. I knew a women who got panicked by closed spaces and elevators because she was in a bad marriage and she felt trapped. It was making her physically feel what she was emotionally feeling, trapped and unable to get out of a bad marriage. So, people can even develop them later in life. I was fine with heights until I got older. For closed spaces, I actually did what I did for my fear of heights. For fear of heights, I went repelling and for fear of closed spaces, I went spelunking in caves. I used to tell people that if you're in an elevator, you're basically in a room. If you can sit in a room for a while, you can ride in an elevator for a while. The thing that freaks people out most is the lack of control. If you're on a plane, it's fear of having someone else fly you and having no control. On an elevator, it's a sense of not being able to get off. Once you get the imagery in your mind of screaming or running out of air, you're gone. There's certain steps you can go through to get over it, but honestly most people aren't up against claustrophobic situations too often so they learn to live with it. It is very very common. I'd say the most common ones I've run into are; public speaking, heights, closed spaces, airplanes, and driving over bridges. People are interesting and their reasons for phobias are equally complex. I like that you shared that story. A lot of people will relate to you.
You know, I don't think that I have that phobia, that I know of. However, there is one that I do have and that's the fear of heights. I will back away from a high place if their is no protection from falling. A elevator that is glass enclosed in another one. Anything that is "way up there" will give me a problem.
Les
You might want to try EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). It's a method of tapping based on acupuncture points. Getting rid of phobias is one of the things it's used for. It sounds a little silly and to good to be true, but I've seen it work. You can download a free PDF that explains how to do the whole thing on emofree.com. You can also view some videos about it at tapping.com. It's probably worth a shot - even if you can't get it to work for you, you've only wasted the time it took to read how to do it.
I'm rather sensitive myself, though I wasn't when I was young.
I've been thinking about this post trying to put a finger on what might have started my problem.
I look up when in an elevator, after I have scoped out any fellow passengers, because all elevators have an escape hatch. So I spend my ride time studying the escape hatch.
Julie-great post and I am sad you suffer from this!! great comments from everybody too!! I have that social anxiety disorder which gives me the feeling of being trapped and feeling like i will go nuts if i dont get out of a situation. I do fine until i am in a group of more than like ten people -I was getting on the "tube" in London during my 1995 visit -and had such a horrible panic attack from all of the people crowding around on the subway platform that i fled away and upstairs and took a cab instead!! the people who noticed me looked at my like i was crazy. I truly wish you well in dealing with this if i hear of any good suggestions i will definitely come over here and post them-one thing i wouldnt recommend is what they have me on for my social anxiety-Xanax -I would beg people to try anything before going the medication route -and they prescribed it to me knowing it was addictive!!! aaarrrggghh!!
i will keep my eyes and ears open if i hear of anything successful for folks with claustrophobia that has worked !! your friend always (Mike's too! haha) i hope you both are having a superb week!!
Great comments everyone. I do appreciate the suggestions. I have been wanting to write something about this because it seems like lately I have been dreaming of being in small spaces and quickly waking up. It's frustrating because I have trouble going back to sleep.
Autumn, I haven't had to get an MRI yet but my Mother, who also suffers from it, has to be practically knocked out to go inside the tube. Not looking forward to that day if I should need one.
Les, I know lots of people afraid of heights. I'm not too fond of it either.
Jeff, thanks for your suggestion. I will look into that. It would be nice to get a full night of uninterrupted sleep.
eloh, my problem with elevators isn't so much the small box, I can handle that most of the time. It's a full and crowded elevators I avoid. The thought of being shoved to the back gives me the heebie jeebies.
Devin, I have a friend that won't go with me to crowded places because she feels the same as you. She also had a panic attack while attending an event downtown. She avoids crowds at all cost.
~Julie~
"Great post. Here's a website that can help you overcome
anxiety disorder without much hassle. You might want to give it a try at www.attackanxiety.org"
It great that you were able to deal with your phobia long enough to make the elevator ride to the top of the Empire State Building. The stairs would have been on really long climb!! More on the Empire State Building can be found at http://www.sightseeingreview.com/empirestatebuildingtower.php
I'm getting claustrophobic just reading this post!! Ugh...I think I'm level 4 claustrophic lol...if there are such levels...and in my world, it goes up to 5 levels. I cannot stand small spaces. I HATE elevators the most!!!
I always wonder about something Sylvia Brown once said about phobias like this...that in a past life you had an experience which triggers your present day phobia. Did anyone suggest trying past life regression to try and maybe figure out what might have happened when you lived before? (If you even believe in that. Some people don't. But I always thought this was a unique way to figuring out why you might have this...and maybe then cure you of it.) Thanks for sharing!
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