Whenever you enter the elevator, you feel fear, helplessness, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and difficulty breathing… If you have this feeling, then you are probably suffering from claustrophobia. In life, living in a small rental house and busy in a crowded cubicle may make you feel abnormal about the cramped space…
In fact, from an evolutionary psychology point of view, “fear” is a good thing: it keeps us from surviving our long evolutionary lives. But when we lose control of our fears or overestimate the urgency of the situation, fear becomes a problem.
Mild claustrophobia is generally caused by the lack of security of the client, and the depressing living and working environment will bring greater psychological impact to the client. The limited field of vision and the cramped sense of space will swallow up the joy of life little by little and invisibly increase people’s anger. The study of cultural psychology shows that the enthusiasm of grassland people or mountain people to others has a certain relationship with the vast area and the sparse population. In the process of urbanization, the living and working environment is crowded, the internal settings of enterprises are uniform and narrow, and the building height is decreasing due to the economic considerations of developers (from the height of 4 or 5 meters in rural areas to the current 3 meters for economic houses). It will bring inexplicable irritability, unprovoked anger, and avoidance of confined spaces to urbanites. These bad emotions are activated because of a certain trigger point, which will bring about a strong emotional response to the client.
For patients with claustrophobia, the author has the following suggestions:
- Properly stay away from urban forests. Take advantage of the rest time to roam in nature as much as possible. Many people are used to watching TV and surfing the Internet and playing games at home during their breaks. Going out is just to go to the shopping mall and supermarket for shopping and pastime. Walking out of this reinforced concrete urban forest and living in the surrounding towns for two days, you will definitely be able to relax the nerves of your daily work. Give yourself a break both visually and spatially.
- Strengthen physical activity. Physical exercise can adjust the pace of life, accelerate blood circulation, and inject fresh vitality into the dull daily life. People who are claustrophobic tend to stay in a small space and do not want to be in contact with their surroundings. Conscious and systematic physical activity can effectively eliminate this phenomenon.
- Progressive muscle relaxation training. By reconciling your breathing, you can gradually tighten and relax your local muscles, especially to experience the feeling of relaxation in the later period, so as to learn to regulate your muscle tension to combat possible space fear.
- Certain behavioral training methods such as system desensitization, shock therapy, etc. The above methods need to be implemented with the help of a psychotherapist to relieve the symptoms of claustrophobia.
- Necessary drug treatment. Once the client is still unable to fully control it through psychotherapy, there are many antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs that can control claustrophobia well. Conclusion: The above are some methods for self-improvement. If it is serious, you need to find a professional psychological counselor to help solve it!
