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What Is Claustrophobia (Fear of

Enclosed Spaces)?
By Lisa Fritscher Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD Updated on February 25, 2020

Claustrophobia is defined as a fear of enclosed spaces. Like any phobia, the severity of
claustrophobia can vary widely from person to person. You may experience symptoms in small
rooms, crawl spaces, crowds, and many other situations. Some people who are claustrophobic
are uncomfortable in elevators, on amusement park rides that use secure restraints (such as
roller coasters), public restrooms, or even revolving doors. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
chambers and other medical testing can also be difficult or impossible if you suffer from
claustrophobia.

Symptoms
If you're claustrophobic, you may experience mild anxiety in a confined space or even severe
panic attacks, and the symptoms may worsen the longer you stay where you are. You might cry,
yell, and attempt to get out of the situation by any means possible.

While not everyone reacts to claustrophobia in the same way, symptoms can include:

Feeling like the walls are closing in

Chills or feeling hot
Sweating
Shaking
Difficulty breathing
Choking feeling
Feeling faint or dizzy
Ringing in your ears
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Nausea
Confusion

Chest pain
Heart palpitations
Headache
Dry mouth
An uncontrollable urge to urinate

Eventually, you may begin to dread activities that could cause you to feel closed in. In addition,
severe claustrophobia can lead to fears of fainting, losing control, or even dying. You might skip
crowded parties or other events, avoid rides that use shoulder restraints, leave the door open
when you enter small rooms, or make many other concessions to your fear.

Possible Causes
Researchers are not yet certain what factors may cause claustrophobia. Many speculate that it
may be rooted in bad childhood experiences. Others believe that it may be a warping of an
evolutionary survival mechanism. Researchers from Emory University concluded that people
who falsely perceive the distance beyond their arm's reach are more likely to experience
claustrophobic fear. Either way, it appears that a history of being nervous in enclosed spaces
may eventually lead to full-blown claustrophobia.

Complications
Being claustrophobic can severely limit your life, causing you to miss out on things you would
otherwise enjoy and even place undue stress on your health.

For example, claustrophobia can be a challenge when it comes to travel. Flying gets the trip over
with quickly but forces you to confine yourself to a small seat surrounded by strangers. Train
travel provides large comfortable seats and allows you to walk around, but takes a long time,
perhaps leaving you feeling trapped. Driving can feel confining but gives you the ability to stop
for stretch breaks whenever you like. An anticipated vacation can turn negative once you find
yourself in one of these situations, or these concerns may prevent you from even booking a trip
in the first place.

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While these moments may seem fleeting, repeated panic attacks and feelings of dread and
anxiety can cause persistently elevated stress, which can be harmful to the body. Medically,
claustrophobia can be dangerous because it could cause you to avoid having necessary MRI
tests.

Diagnosis
Knowing you have a fear of enclosed spaces may seem like enough to formalize a diagnosis of
claustrophobia, but like other phobias, there are specific diagnostic criteria that must be met.
Among them:

Your fear of tight spaces hinders your ability to engage in routine activities.

You make a special effort to avoid situations involving enclosed spaces, like taking the
stairs instead of riding in an elevator.
Anxiety grows in anticipation of times when you may be in such a situation.

A mental health professional can evaluate you in regards to these criteria and determine if your
symptoms are truly the result of a phobia, panic disorder, or another issue.

Treatment
Treatment for claustrophobia depends on the person and severity of symptoms. There are
various treatments available, including:

Psychotherapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in particular has been shown to be quite successful in
treating claustrophobia. Exposure therapy is another treatment that can be effective.

Medication
Along with psychological treatment, your doctor or therapist may prescribe anti-anxiety
medications or antidepressants to help manage your symptoms. Low-dose anti-anxiety
medication may be an option for upcoming travel if you are traveling by airplane, cruise ship, or
other means of travel that may be a usual cause of claustrophobia for you.

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Be sure to pay close attention to dosage and medication instructions, as you may need to star
taking the medication several days before you travel or follow other procedures such as taking
the drug with a meal or avoiding alcohol.

Behavioral Techniques
Systematic desensitization, counter-conditioning, modeling, and flooding are often used in
conjunction with cognitive methods such as the Stop! Technique. The methods work together to
help change both your behaviors and your feelings of fear.

Alternative Treatments
Some people find relief through hypnosis and other alternative forms of treatment. Others find
that self-help methods such as visualization can help them through claustrophobia attacks. If you
decide to try alternative methods of treatment, be sure to get the approval of your mental health
professional.

A Word From Verywell

Claustrophobia can be debilitating if it's not treated. However, treatment is usually successful. If
you're experiencing any symptoms of claustrophobia, it's important to contact a mental health
professional or your family doctor as soon as possible. With help, you can work toward freeing
yourself of this fear and enjoying life that much more.

Related: How to Know If You Have Cabin Fever or Fear of Isolation

Article Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within
our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content
accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. Vadakkan C, Siddiqui W. Claustrophobia. [Updated 2019 May 13]. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL):
StatPearls Publishing; 2020 Jan-.

2. Lourenco SF, Longo MR, Pathman T. Near space and its relation to claustrophobic fear. Cognition.
2011;119(3):448-53. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2011.02.009

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3. Clark CN, Downey LE, Golden HL, et al. The mind is its own place: Amelioration of Claustrophobia in
Semantic Dementia. Behav Neurol. 2014;2014:584893. doi:10.1155/2014/584893

4. Enders J, Zimmermann E, Rief M, et al. Reduction of claustrophobia during magnetic resonance

imaging: methods and design of the "CLAUSTRO" randomized controlled trial. BMC Med Imaging.
2011;11:4. doi:10.1186/1471-2342-11-4

5. Farach FJ, Pruitt LD, Jun JJ, Jerud AB, Zoellner LA, Roy-byrne PP. Pharmacological treatment of
anxiety disorders: current treatments and future directions. J Anxiety Disord. 2012;26(8):833-43.
doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2012.07.009

6. Triscari MT, Faraci P, Catalisano D, D'angelo V, Urso V. Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy
integrated with systematic desensitization, cognitive behavioral therapy combined with eye movement
desensitization and reprocessing therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy combined with virtual reality
exposure therapy methods in the treatment of flight anxiety: a randomized trial. Neuropsychiatr Dis
Treat. 2015;11:2591-8. doi:10.2147/NDT.S93401

Additional Reading

Better Health Channel. Claustrophobia. Victoria State Government.

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/claustrophobia

Lourenco, S. F., Longo, M. R., & Pathman, T. (2011). Near space and its relation to claustrophobic
fear. Cognition, 119(3), 448-453. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2011.02.009

National Health Service, United Kingdom. Claustrophobia. Crown Copyright.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/claustrophobia/

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