Overcoming claustrophobia - help needed please!

Please share your stories of claustrophobia and what has helped you deal with it the most. I am 16 and have been claustrophobic since an incident when I was 9. I really need to do something about it now because it is making me miss out on opportunities. Although I think I will find it hard I am now considering seeing some sort of psychiatrist because trying to face my fear hasn't been working brilliantly.

Thanks for any advice :smile:

P.S Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, I started off posting it in Mental Health but got no responses :frown:

Reply 1

Indian_Prince

erm well, i dont know but once at night i started thinking about all these differnt types of tight situations i could get myself in like falling into a air duct and being completely unable to move my arms or been buried alive underground (was only one time) and yeh i guess i might have been having a claustrophobia attack thing, but yeh i guess i just rationalised it and explained to myself that there are always people around me who can help me out and that life isnt a movie where places magically get smaller and close in on you :redface:

Reply 2

DH-Biker

I was claustrophobic for many years. My Mum's friend's children locked me in a cupboard and whilst it sounds funny, being in there for seven hours scared the **** out of me. My Mum and her friend had gone out, thinking those two would look after me. When they came back, my Mum asked to see me and they said I'd gone out. It wasn't till she heard me screaming that she realised what had happened. Needless to say, she wasn't impressed. Those two are bad people. :frown:

In any case, it was a friend of mine from the Army who solved mine. He's a Trainer and he went with me to both an Army Exercise centre and an Outward Bound centre (the latter he worked at part time) and took me through both places' more constricted obstacles. For example, it OB, one was a huge underground tunnel system that at times was only just big enough. But there were boards above me I could push and get out of if need be, and he was always above me and I had a torch and he could easily hear me if something went wrong.

After several days of that, I was much happier. :smile:

If it helps, I think that's the way to do it. I forget the name of the shrink method of curing such phobias where they slowly apply you more and more to your phobia, but I fully support it as a method. And that's where I'd go for any fear.

Reply 3

kellybee

Unfortunately exposure to what you're scared of is the only way to really overcome a phobia. This can be done on your own or with the help of friends or family, but it tends to be more successful when implemented by a trained professional. If it is genuinely impeding your day to day life you need to see your doctor who can refer you to the appropriate therapist or treatment plan.
On a side note, I knew someone who was scared of baked beans. Just sayin.