claustrophobia?

Question

is there anything to do about? cure? tips?

Answer 1

Claustrophobia usually results from a traumatic experience as a child. Treatment involves psychiatric help including counseling, behavior therapy, medications, exposure therapy and often a combination of several treatment strategies.

Counseling helps to find the basis for the fear. Usually, the majority of the battle is finding out what caused the fear to begin with. Finding the cause, makes treatment more successful. Sometimes, regression hypnotherapy is used to help find that cause.

Behavior therapy will help you learn coping strategies as well as to recognize that the symptoms you feel (panic and fear) are triggers that are learned...not natural events.

Exposure therapy will put you in a claustrophobic situation until the panic attack passes. Often this is done in steps starting with very minute time periods and increasing the time as you learn to cope.

Medications are sometimes prescribed to help you cope with the anxiety that your phobia causes.

Unfortunately, phobias cannot usually be self-treated. How can you carry out a strategy when panic takes over? Sorry, but professional help is needed.