Five tips: Say goodbye to claustrophobia!

Do you remember Andy in last year's popular TV series "Ode to Joy"? When the elevator broke down, she was so panicked and even had symptoms of chest tightness. Andy's situation is a typical example of claustrophobia. It can be seen that claustrophobia has a very serious impact on patients. So how can you quickly return to normal life? In fact, claustrophobia is not terrible. Let me tell you about some methods that psychologists will introduce to you to relieve claustrophobia.

In fact, from the perspective of evolutionary psychology, fear is a good thing: it has enabled us to survive throughout our long evolutionary career. But once we lose control of our fear or overestimate the urgency of the situation, fear becomes a problem.

Mild claustrophobia generally comes from the person's lack of sense of security. The depressing living and working environment will bring a greater psychological impact to the person. The limited vision and cramped sense of space will gradually devour the joy of life and invisibly increase people's anger.

Research in cultural psychology shows that the hospitality of grassland people or mountain dwellers is related to the vast territory and sparse population. In the process of urbanization, the crowded living and working environment, the monotonous and cramped internal settings of enterprises, and the decreasing height of buildings due to economic considerations of developers (from 4 or 5 meters in rural areas to less than 3 meters in current economic housing) all bring inexplicable irritability, unwarranted anger, and avoidance of enclosed spaces to urban residents. These negative emotions are activated due to a certain trigger point, which will bring about a strong emotional reaction in the person involved.

For patients with claustrophobia, experts have the following suggestions:

1. Stay away from urban forests. Use your rest time to spend as much time as possible in nature. Many people are accustomed to staying at home watching TV, surfing the Internet and playing games during their rest time. When I go out, I just go to the mall or supermarket to shop and have fun. Walking out of this urban jungle of steel and concrete and spending a couple of days in a nearby town will definitely help you relax your nerves from your daily work. Give yourself a break visually and spatially.

2. Strengthen physical activities. Physical exercise can adjust the rhythm of life, accelerate blood circulation, and inject fresh vitality into dull daily life. People with claustrophobia tend to stay in small spaces and are unwilling to interact with their surroundings. Conscious and systematic physical activities can effectively eliminate this phenomenon.

3. Progressive muscle relaxation training. By coordinating your breathing, you can gradually tighten and relax your local muscles, especially experiencing the feeling of relaxation in the later stage, so that you can learn to regulate your muscle tension to fight possible spatial phobia.

4. Certain behavioral training methods such as systematic desensitization and shock therapy. The above methods need to be implemented with the help of a psychotherapist to relieve the symptoms of claustrophobia.

5. Necessary drug treatment. If the person still cannot fully control the phobia through psychotherapy, there are many antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs that can effectively control claustrophobia.