Claustrophobia: Difference between revisions
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Studies show that around 1 in 20 people in the world have severe '''claustrophobia'''. For fictional characters, the number is more like 1 in 3. Expect visions of small places getting smaller and smaller until there's no place to breathe, and expect anyone who is revealed to be claustrophobic before the fact to be put into a tight situation eventually.
If this is [[The Hero]]'s debilitating weakness, then it's also an example of [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]], though it is a phobia that can and will occur in any kind of character, since it's so easy to give situations where it would come into play.
The opposite, rarer (in reality and in fiction) phobia - where the character is afraid of wide-open spaces - is called ''agoraphobia.''
{{examples}}▼
[[Truth in Television]], of course, as it's a common fear; many Tropers reading this may know someone who is claustrophobic or even ''be'' claustrophobic. [[The Other Wiki]] explains it in depth [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claustrophobia here].}}
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Mendo from ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' suffers from both this and a fear of darkness... unless any women are watching, in which case his desire to look cool and suave trumps it. It's later revealed that he developed these phobias as a child from the actions of {{spoiler|himself as a teen, travelling back in time to attempt to ''prevent'' the phobias from developing in the first place. After getting fed up with the bratty, borderline abusive (who are we kidding? -- ''actually'' abusive) behavior of his younger self, Mendou snapped and was about to take himself out of the timeline by chopping the kid into tiny bits with his katana. Kid Mendou hid out in a room full of large clay jars, scared for his life, as he heard Mendou smashing them trying to find him. Lum knocked Mendou out just as he found Kid Mendou, leaving a traumatized toddler.}}
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* Ash Ketchum's Pikachu from ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' is actually implied to be claustrophobic because of his dislike of being contained within a Pokeball like all of the other Pokemon. The only time we ''ever'' see him come out of a Pokeball was at the very beginning of the first episode where Ash chooses him as his starter Pokemon, and the only time we ''ever'' see him go inside a Pokeball is about halfway through ''[[Pokémon: The First Movie|Pokémon the First Movie]]'' during the scene where Mewtwo captures all of the trainers' Pokemon using several sinister-looking Pokeballs (which for some reason, also capture Pokemon that are already ''inside'' their own Pokeballs), so he can create an army of cloned Pokemon to help him rule the world. When the aforementioned [[Fan Nickname|"Clone Balls"]] come back to release all of the captured Pokemon, Pikachu, as a result of this, is apparently now extremely ''pissed...''
== [[
* [[Storm]] of the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' is traditionally claustrophobic, dating back to [[Chris Claremont]]'s work on the comic. A rocket attack that killed her mother also left her buried in rubble for hours with the body. She keeps it under control except in similarly extreme situations. She also has this phobia in certain adaptations, particularly ''[[X
* ''[[Atari Force]]''. "[[Atop the Fourth Wall|Okay, what genius decided to put a claustrophobic man in space?]]"
== [[Fan
* In the ''[[Homestuck]]'' fanfic [http://archiveofourown.org/works/109481
* Shows up quite a bit in ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'' fanfic. Justified there because the Tin Suit was pure hell for Cain, DG was trapped in a coffin during the series and came close to not surviving it, and Raw was about to face a nasty end trapped in a Papay cocoon.
* In ''[[Neon Exodus Evangelion]]'', DJ Croft is afflicted with this. It proves debilitating when he's trapped in the elevator with Misato, and downright crippling when he's stuck in the Dirac Sea.
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** In The Ellimist Chronicles (a distant prequel to the main Animorphs series), the Ketrans have a similar species-wide claustrophobia. This is seen when they are forced to enter and fly an alien ship of opaque metal. Ketrans are a winged species which live on massive transparent crystals that float in the sky.
* [[The Wheel of Time|Rand Al'Thor]] develops claustrophobia after being abducted, stuffed in a trunk, cut off from channeling, and shipped off on a trip of hundreds of miles, only being allowed out for minutes at a time for weeks.
* In Margaret Mahy's ''Maddigan's Fantasia'' and ''[[
* Allie in [[Devon Monk]]'s ''[[Allie Beckstrom]]'' series
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* Lister in ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' had a bout of this when performing an [[Air Vent Passageway]] escape. Lampshaded the fact that it was the first time this had ever come up. He explains that he's fine so long as he knows he can get out. He developed the phobia {{spoiler|when the husband of a co-worker with whom he was having an affair locked him in a box and threatened to throw him into a river, then let him out on stage in the middle of a production of ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (he was naked at the time).}}
* One of the many phobias of ''[[Monk]]''. Subverted in the episode where he was {{spoiler|[[Buried Alive]], as the memory of Trudy kept him calm}}.
* Barbara Bain's real life claustrophobia was written into an episode of ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' in which her character (also claustrophobic) is tortured by being drugged and held in a small, enclosed space.
* In one episode of ''[[Night Court]]'', [[Handsome Lech|Dan Fielding]] reveals his claustrophobia while trapped in a stuck elevator with two sumo wrestlers and bailiff Roz. She helps calm him by having his close his eyes and imagine he is standing in the middle of a football stadium, with lots of room all around him, and it's filled with happy, cheering people who are all looking at him... {{spoiler|and he's naked. That last detail elicits a grin from him.}}
* In season 10 of ''[[ER]]'', it's revealed that Neela suffers from claustrophobia when she has to spend a few hours in a hyperbaric chamber with a baby with carbon monoxide poisoning.
* The ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|Mash]]'' episode "C*A*V*E" has Hawkeye having to deal with this when enemy shelling forces the 4077th to relocate to a nearby cave. The same episode has normally tough-as-nails Margaret Houlihan admitting to a deathly fear of [[Fear of Thunder|loud noises]].
* Anya from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' was revealed as claustrophobic in
* In ''[[Stargate Universe]]'', the normally tough-as-nails Greer turns out to be claustrophobic, just before going into an underground tunnel network {{spoiler|which he ends up trapped in}}.
* Doctor Reid Oliver from ''[[As the World Turns]]'' showed signs of severe claustrophobia when the elevator he and Luke were in got stuck, going so far as to risk damaging his hands in an attempt to escape and manhandling Luke in fear that Luke's jumping could genuinely get them killed. Seeing as all he had to do to escape death by train was wiggle out of his seatbelt, open his door (possibly break the window and exit that way if the door also refused to open), and sprint, this could have been an [[Author's Saving Throw]]. However, the actor played the scene as calmly frantic rather than as if claustrophobia was severely impairing his judgment.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In ''[[Dungeons
* One of the ''many'' horror tropes invoked in Innistrad: [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=235601\]
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* The titular ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' reveals in the first game that he is claustrophobic, or at least he's "not comfortable in tight places."
* Carla Valenti in ''[[Fahrenheit (2005 video game)|Fahrenheit]]''. Notable because in two levels, you actually have to guide her through claustrophobic environments, simultaneously controlling her movement and her breath. If you fail the latter, she freaks out and the game's over.
* In ''[[Ace Attorney]]'', Edgeworth definitely has a debilitating fear of being stuck in elevators; [[Fanon]] is split on whether this is elevator-specific or if he doesn't like any small spaces.
* In ''[[Grim Fandango]]'', French waiter Raoul is claustrophobic, and Manny has to lock him up inside a closet.
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