CLEINOPHOBIA (fear of being locked up): what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment

Staying locked up in a space that does not have an exit to the outside can be a situation that scares more than one person. How many times have we heard on the news that someone has been locked in an elevator for hours without being able to get out? The concern that this event can cause us is logical and understandable. Despite the fantasies that may appear in our minds, we try to downplay them so that they do not influence our daily activities. However, there are people who have an intense and lasting fear of confinement that can have serious consequences.

If you find yourself reading these lines, you are probably curious about the theme that we will present, since having valuable resources to deal with these situations can help us cope with life in a more calmed down. For this reason, in this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about the Cleinophobia (fear of being): what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment.

Index

1. What is cleinophobia
2. Symptoms of cleinophobia
3. Causes of cleinophobia
4. Cleinophobia Treatment

The term cleinophobia refers to an anxiety disorder characterized by a exacerbated and irrational fear of being locked up. Given the peculiarities that it presents, it is possible to place this clinical picture within the group of specific phobias delimited by the DSM-V^[1].

When making a diagnosis of cleinophobia, it is important to know what diagnostic criteria must be met in the context of specific phobias:

• Fear and/or intense anxiety of being locked up.
• Avoidance of the specific situation or object with fear or anxiety.
• Fear and/or anxiety disproportionate to the real danger that being locked up represents.
• Duration of six months or more.
• Deterioration of work, social and family relationships.
• The significant discomfort felt when being confined is not associated with any other mental disorder.

The fear of being locked up manifests itself through physical and emotional symptoms. It is essential to know them to detect it quickly and efficiently, so, below, we will highlight the most relevant symptoms associated with cleinophobia:

• Incrise of cardiac frecuency.
• Excessive sweating.
• dizziness
• Nausea.
• vomiting.
• catastrophic thoughts.
• intense fear
• Avoid closed places without ventilation.

Beyond the symptoms that we have mentioned, the truth is that the presence of any of them does not necessarily imply that we are facing a picture of cleinophobia. It is essential that the diagnosis be carried out by a mental health professional who evaluates the characteristics of the patient.

Cleinophobia can be triggered at different times in life and its appearance depends on different factors. Next, we will explain what are the main causes of cleinophobia:

• traumatic experiences: the fear of being locked up may be related to having experienced an unpleasant situation in the past in which someone was seen or heard being locked in a confined space and caused suffering. Furthermore, the person himself may have been confined during certain periods of life that have caused him difficulties. Ultimately, past traumatic situations can influence current behavior.
• hereditary component: genetic inheritance plays a transcendental role in the development of the symptomatology of cleinophobia. In this sense, it is likely that if a parent has suffered from this condition, their children will also do so.

Despite the difficulties that this pathology entails, there are treatments that have proven to be highly effective in curing cleinophobia. In this section, we will see how to treat the fear of being locked up:

• psychological therapy: therapy can provide us with tools to cope with and overcome the fear of being locked up. On the one hand, the emotions, thoughts and behaviors associated with the patient's symptoms are worked on. On the other hand, psychological therapy tries to locate the origin of the symptoms, through the memories children, with the aim of finding new ways of coping with situations of fear and/or anxiety. In this article you will find more information about how to get over a childhood trauma.
• psychiatric medication: in cases of severe cleinophobia, the use of psychoactive drugs is recommended to reduce the intensity of the symptoms. Medications act on the neural circuits of the Central Nervous System. However, the consumption of psychiatric medication must be done under the supervision of a health professional.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Cleinophobia (fear of being locked up): what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

1. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Arlington: Pan American Medical Publisher.

• Delgado Reyes, A.C., Sánchez López, J.V. (2019). Fear, phobias and their treatments. Electronic Journal of Psychology Iztacala, 22 (2), 798-833.
• Martínez Valls, M., García Palacios, A., Bottle, C. (2003). Psychometric properties of the claustrophobia questionnaire in the Spanish population. Psychothema Magazine, 15 (4), 673-678.