Claustrophobia Research

What i already know or assume/ what i want to know

I think that a phobia is an unreasonable fear, something that makes you really scared to the point of fainting or sweating. I know there are a lot of different phobias in the world like coulrophobia, acrophobia, or glossophobia. I believe some are easier to overcome and others are harder to overcome it depends on the person,but the fear never really goes away.

For a long time now i have had claustrophobia, i don't remember exactly when it happened but i slightly remember how it happened. I started noticing how my heart would start racing every time i was in a small room or in a crowded space and my palms would even start sweating and shaking, and with the years it has only gotten worse, i cant even be under my blankets without getting anxious. I can probably say that The biggest and hardest challenge i have to face everyday are probably elevators. I constantly find myself avoiding them at all cost but there are times where i have to get in them because stairs aren't the safest option.

One of the hardest things about this is that Some people don't take my fear seriously and sometimes they even make fun of me, like my brothers, if i'm inside an elevator with them, they'll just start jumping or laughing at me which only make things worse. They aren't aware of what it actually does to me, everytime my fear increases more and more and i'm scared until what point it might take me. Claustrophobia might not be the worst phobia in the world but it has definitely not helped me in any positive way, and i'm tired of feeling scared and being made fun of, which brings me to my research question, how can i overcome claustrophobia?.

The Story of My search

First of all i did not anticipated the anxiety that i felt during this research. i began my research by searching up the types of phobia and i found that there are three types of phobias, agoraphobia, social phobia, and specific phobia. My research consisted of a lot of google research where i surprised to see how many article popped up, it wasn't like other times where i would just search up the question and the answer would pop up, this time i actually had to read the articles to find the best information for this paper.i was able to find the causes, symptoms and treatments for claustrophobia in the medical news today. I also searched up other questions like how can i overcome claustrophobia?, in what ways does claustrophobia causes psychological problems?, is claustrophobia considered a disease?,And what are the risks people with claustrophobia face?. With this i was able to find other articles like a guide to claustrophobia and learn to overcome claustrophobia that helped me find information i needed. It was also pretty easy to become distracted by other phobias, like i never knew how people have phobias of things i would never imagine, like aquaphobia (fear of water). nevertheless as interesting articles were, they weren't the ones i was focusing on so i decided to move on to other sources.

I also watched videos that the articles provided or videos from youtube of people sharing their experiences with what it is to be living with claustrophobia, and very personal stories of people. This was helpful because i came across videos of doctors giving advice on how to stop panic attacks and tips on what to do when someone has a panic attack in an elevator.

I also went into the schools health center homepage and looked for the psychology services where i was able to find the counseling and psychology services, the hours of operations and the phone number of the office. I wanted to make an appointment with the psychologist that was available hoping that the psychologist would be able to answer some of my questions, i did not know if she or he had a lot knowledge about phobias or specifically claustrophobia but i wanted to see what information they had to offer, unfortunately since it was last minute i wasn't able to get an appointment.

I also went into the library homepage, clicked on the database and looked for some scholarly resources, where i was able to find some articles, one talked about ways doctors have made it possible for people with claustrophobia to get an MRI, which it never crossed my mind that that would be a problem with people who suffered not only with claustrophobia or anxiety.The most helpful source was the new york times boxed in.freaked out, this article was probably the most helpful of all the articles, and videos. This source talked about what things have people done to make claustrophobics have an easier way to live their lives. It talks about how people like engineerings have projects that they've done to help claustrophobics, and the number of people with this phobia.

By the end of my research i was able to find helpful information and a whole new knowledge of claustrophobia.

The Research Results

According to the mental health america Agoraphobia is when a person might fear a place or situation where they might feel embarrassed or helpless, about 0.9 percent of people suffer from agoraphobia. Social phobia is a mental problem where people fear social interactions and public speaking situations, 7.1 percent suffer from social phobia. And an specific phobia is any kind of anxiety, the fear of exposure to specific situations or objects, 10 percent of people in the united states suffer from specific phobias. Claustrophobia falls is a specific phobia, and up to five percent of people in the united states have claustrophobia. Not everyone suffers the same level of claustrophobia some are only slightly claustrophobic and others have severe symptoms to the point of using medication. An Anxiety disorder does not just causes ""nerves."" You can't overcome an anxiety disorder just through willpower, nor can the symptoms be ignored or wished away.

As a result of my research i found that i can consult a doctor to find what type of therapy helps me the best and to help me find what triggers my phobia. there's five types of treatments that can help a person overcome claustrophobia, nevertheless i have to make sure that whatever i try it doesn't cause me further anxiety and make things worse.

When diagnosing claustrophobia the doctor might ask a series of questions to make sure that it doesn't connect to any other anxiety issue or to any other problems. The doctors would want to find out what is it that triggers the claustrophobic patient to feel anxious and they have to do tests to see how severe are the symptoms. Feelings of being trapped can be triggered when entering a small room, in a crowded place, an elevator and in many cases a pane. The doctor might provide a series of questions or a questionnaire to see what is causing the anxiety, and a scale to see what are the levels of anxiety that the patient is experiencing. The questionnaire includes scenarios of what might make the person anxious like Standing in an elevator on the ground floor with the doors closed,Using an oxygen mask, Snorkeling in a safe practice tank for 15 minutes, and Standing in the middle of the third row at a packed concert realizing that you will be unable to leave until the end. The questionnaire might provide the patient with five options, strongly agree, somewhat agree, neither agree or disagree, somewhat disagree and strongly disagree.

My Growth as a Researcher

There's a lot of things that i learned while working on this research paper, but first of all i would like to say how this was definitely like a slap on the face that told me wake up this is college it isn't high school. In an assignment like this you have to stay focus, if you get distracted then you are wasting a lot of time. You have to concentrate and stay organized, and i definitely learned how to do that, i learned how to separate and organized data that i gather from the articles. This assignment made me a better researcher because it wasn't just about looking up a question on google and the answer popping up, i actually had to scroll down and find the best reliable resources i could find, and it also helped learn how to explore the library's database. Furthermore this information was helpful for me because although it did alter my phobia a little bit, it also helped find ways to help me manage claustrophobia.

Cite this page