Phobia : Claustrophobia

Surfing the net on the topic PHOBIA, I found this : "A phobia is a form of anxiety disorder in which someone has an intense and irrational fear of certain objects or situations. Anyone suffering from high levels of anxiety is at risk of developing a phobia. One of the most common phobias is claustrophobia, or the fear of enclosed spaces. A person who has claustrophobia may panic when inside a lift, aeroplane, crowded room or other confined area like cabinets, tunnels and others."

Watching an episode of Fear Factor last week, I saw one of the challenges contestants has to overcome. It was where the female contestant needs to go underwater and go inside a small tunnel to get a human skull. However, inside the small tunnel is a seven-foot crocodile facing towards the other end of the tunnel (in reality, the crocodile couldn't turn around to attack the contestant anyway). However, this situation would certainly be too much for someone who has claustrophobia.

Seeing this scene reminds me of my own fear of small tunnels. Even the thought of myself going into a small tunnel gives me shivers. I really don't know why I developed this fear, but in one way or another, I learned to overcome this fear in some situations.

Have you experienced going into a CT or MRI machine? I have, for three times already. But I survived! I overcome my fear. How I did it? Prayers and doing a research on how these machine looks like and how they work, before my MRI and CT scan appointments happened.

My first CT scan experience was at National Kidney and Transplant Institute (for an angiogram) in Quezon City, Philippines and the other two were at the National Institutes of Health (for more detailed tests) at Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

I was able to overcome my fear of going into these tunnel-like machines (not mentioning the irritating noise while you are in there)by keeping my eyes closed and never attempting to open them while I was inside the machine. And while undergoing the "ordeal" of being in the machine, I kept my mind busy thinking of things that I love to think about - my family, a beautiful and relaxing scenery or humming my favorite songs.

We can really overcome our fear on something. If we don't learn to overcome our fears, we can't tackle certain challenges in our lives too. And just like what the contestants in Fear Factor also did, they faced and challenged their fears and they succeeded. Afterall, fear is only in the mind.