Claustrophobia

PHOBIA

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” (Lovecraft, ¶1). Fear has always been a companion to mankind in his life, and according to Lovecraft, fear has been the earliest and most powerful form of emotion man has had. It has been a normal feeling one possesses, but to some fear has become severe and unreasonable leading to a psychological disorder known as phobia. Phobia is a form of anxiety disorder defined as “an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation” (Phobia, 2013). Claustrophobia is one of the most common types of phobia that is caused by different traumatic past experiences and is triggered by different situations.

There are many types of phobia; among this is claustrophobia. The word claustrophobia came from the Latin word claustrum meaning “a shut in place”, and the Greek word phobos meaning “fear” (Medical News Today [MNT], 2013). With the etymology given for claustrophobia, it is defined as the fear of being “shut in” or simply placed as a “fear of being in closed and narrow spaces” (Claustrophobia, 2013). A claustrophobic person gets triggered upon being in a narrow or closed area, and it involves both an emotional and physiological response of the person (McCarthy, 2013). A more precise definition of the word is “fear of not having an easy escape route” (Connolly). Claustrophobic people often relate their fear as a feeling of entrapment without having a way out (McCarthy, 2013).

There may be a number of factors that result to claustrophobia. The most common reason

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is of life experience or trauma and of genetics (Better Health Channel [BHC], 2013). A vast number of patients diagnosed with claustrophobia have similar causes of it which is a traumatic experience during their childhood (MNT, 2013). Examples of experiences would be of someone being closed in an area when they were a child or a...