Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia

Does Claustrophobia cause people to deviate from confined areas? The independent variable is claustrophobia, and the dependent variable is the confined areas. Our hypothesis to this question is yes claustrophobia can be cured and reduced by cognitive behavioral therapy. The issue of claustrophobia is very important due to its impact on an individuals everyday life, since it affects a number of individuals throughout the world. A phobia is an anxiety disorder that is shown by an irrational fear of confined spaces. This phobia can cause a person to stay away form confined spaces such as a crowded store, sporting and social events, as well as elevators that could bring on this irrational fear. In society this can cause a person not to take part in certain events. This phobia can also lead to the interference with riding on public transportation such as a plane, train, bus or subway. In this our findings will be evident by the research provided. Each of these specific statements below, will help draw a conclusion about claustrophobia: 1) Fear of Restriction and Suffocation 2) The Reduction of Claustrophobia(Part 1) 3) The Reduction of Claustrophobia (Part 2) 4) Virtual Reality Treatment of Claustrophobia Claustrophobia 2 Fear of Restriction and Suffocation Claustrophobic fear is a combination of the fear of suffocation and the fear of confinement. The view on this topic is supported from the responses from a questionnaire done before, during, and after a MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan was performed. Patients who successfully completed a MRI scan found they experienced fear of confinement not suffocation. These MRI scans were done in long narrow cylindrical chambers, which are dark and restrictive as well as noisy. Although you are not in a sealed chamber, you can literally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Some other chambers that were used in other experiments were enclosed, and restrictive which leads the patient to believe that there is the possibility of suffocation. This study was performed over a three-week period on an outpatient basis at two teaching hospitals. There were seventy-eight people involved in this study, twenty-three males, mean average 51.61 years (S.D.=20.0), as well as fifty-five females, mean age 45.67 years (S.D.=15.3). They collected research data on three different occasions using the F.S.S. (fear survey schedule) and the D.A.S.S. (depression, anxiety, and stress scale), one week prior to the MRI scan, the day of the MRI scan, and one month after the MRI scan. The patients who filled out a questionnaire one week prior to the MRI scan answered questions concerning the characteristics of depression, anxiety, stress, confinement and suffocation. The patients who filled out a questionnaire immediately after the MRI scan answered questions concerning their experience, did they complete or not complete the MRI scan, their willingness to undergo a further scan, and the history of previous MRI scans. Claustrophobia 3 The patients who filled out a questionnaire one month after the MRI scan filled out the same questionnaire as the one prior to the MRI scan. The results of this MRI scan study proved that patients who had failed to complete their MRI scan experienced an increase in the claustrophobic fear since they left during the MRI scan while their fears were high, which reinforced these patients from escaping from a similar situation in the future. It has been found that patients who have these MRI scans may develop conditions of anxiety such as claustrophobia and panic attacks. The patients who complete the MRI scan successfully reduced their fear of confined places in the future. It was also found that the patients exposed to a confined situation without the possibility of suffocation were only concerned with the fear on confinement, but had no effect on the fear of suffocation. To get the best results for the treatment of claustrophobia you need to address the fear of restriction as well as the fear of suffocation in a cognitive- behavioral program. Claustrophobia 4 The Reduction of Claustrophobia (Part1) Many people suffer form claustrophobia, whether they have panic attacks in small confined rooms or in large crowds. They suffer from this disorder on a daily basis. To try and prevent these panic attacks they try to avoid small areas. People shouldn't have to alter their life styles because of something they have no control over. So psychologists put together a study to find ways to reduce the degree of panic attacks, Claustrophobia was selected as the target in this clinical experiment because it is a common fear with puzzling aspects. In claustrophobia it is relatively easy to induce fear and this provides a degree of experimental control that can be put to their advantage. Forty-eight participants were selected from the community after extensive advertising in local radio and newspapers. The publicity stressed: A) that the focus of the study would be on the fear of small enclosed spaces, although fears of larger spaces, such as aircraft's or shopping malls might also be evident. B) Those participants would be trained over three visits in a particular coping strategy, C) that this was a research study, in which participants neither paid nor were paid; and D) confidentiality was assured. Claustrophobia 5 The assessment was made up of three sets of dependent measures that were given at different intervals throughout the study. A summary of these measures and the intervals at which they were administered is presented in Table 1 (Boot 209-10) Anxiety Sensitivity is defined as " an individual difference variable consisting of the belief that the experience of anxiety causes illness, embarrassment, or additional anxiety." Anxiety sensitivity is likely to have important consequences, including motivation to avoid anxiety- provoking stimuli, but its importance in this study is that it is considered likely to increase alertness to stimuli signaling the possibility of becoming nervous. Subjects used in this test where placed in two different sized rooms. One the size of a standard closet and the other a file room. In the larger room, the subject was placed in for two minutes with the lights out. Subjects also had the ability to ring for the experimenter. In the smaller room, the subject was there in the dark, the door locked and no way to get help. The walls were sound proof so yelling was not an option. The reason for the two different rooms was to increase anxiety levels in the smaller room. The results proved that by placing the subjects in the first room, the larger of the two, and then the smaller one, the subjects had high increases of anxiety levels. A major finding was that a purely cognitive procedure did reduce both reported fear and panic, and lead to more confident predictions of a second enclosed space, in relation to a control