Claustrophobia: Difference between revisions

{{haiku|Small enclosed spaces. Like bee stings and heights, this is one of those things that unnerve essentially everybody, but, like those two, it also affects some people much more than others. Some people are deathly afraid of enclosed spaces, and anything from being trapped in a stuck elevator to being shut in a closet could cause them to [[Freak -Out]] and make being [[Locked in Aa Room]] and [[Locked in Aa Freezer]] ever so much more fun for all involved.

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.

* Ash Ketchum's Pikachu from ''[[Pokémon (Animeanime)|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: theThe First Movie (Anime)|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...''

== [[ComicsComic Books]] ==

* [[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 -Men: theThe Animated Series]]'' and ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]''.

* ''[[Atari Force]]''. "[[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Okay, what genius decided to put a claustrophobic man in space?]]"

== [[Fan FictionWorks]] ==

* In the ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' fanfic [http://archiveofourown.org/works/109481 "''four titles"''], John [[Blow You Away|air and wind powers]] have a side-effect of giving him claustrophobia--heclaustrophobia—he detests anything but open air.

* 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 the first live action ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Filmfilm)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' movie, Casey Jones is revealed to be claustrophobic when taken to the turtles' lair in the sewers.

* The most recent ''[[Artemis Fowl (Literature)|Artemis Fowl]]'' book gives Holly Short claustrophobia tied to some newly revealed backstory, although she never seemed to have a problem with small spaces in previous books. This is explained away as that she had overcome this claustrophobia long before the events of the books, but her body had become that of an adolescent due to unforeseen side effects of the time traveling, so she had gotten back her claustrophobia.

* Main character Robert Langdon from ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' and ''[[Angels and& Demons]]'', due to being trapped in a well in his childhood.

* In ''[[Rowan of Rin]]'' by Emily Rodda, weak and cowardly Rowan is fated to accompany six big, strong, brave villagers up the forbidden mountain to find out what has stopped up the village's stream. The big, strong, brave villagers get picked off one at a time due to phobias and fears. One of the last to go is Marlie, the stout little weaver, who tries valiantly to fight past her claustrophobia, but can't do it. She's forced to turn back. Lucky, too, because the last leg of the journey is a three-day stretch inside a winding tunnel so tiny that even little Rowan is crawling on his stomach the whole way, and Strong Jonn can barely fit. And they can't take any supplies.

** Relg himself suffers from the opposite fear -- agoraphobiafear—agoraphobia, the fear of open spaces -- atspaces—at first. He had lived his entire life in the caves of Ulgoland, and had not only had never seen the sky, he had no real ''concept'' of "sky", "sun", "clouds", or "stars". Garion spends several days just trying to keep him vaguely functional.

* In ''[[The Talisman (Literature)|The Talisman]]'' by [[Stephen King]] and Peter Straub, Wolf, the [[Our Werewolves Are Different|Territories werewolf]] who has befriended the hero, is violently claustrophobic, to the point that he refuses to ride in a small car.

* Inverted in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s Robot Trilogy. In ''[[The Caves of Steel (Literature)|The Caves of Steel]]'' Protagonist Elijah Baley and all of the Earthlings raised in the crowded, claustrophobic Cities, have ''agoraphobia'' -- a—a fear of open spaces, in this case the outdoors in general. Baley starts confronting this fear in the second novel, and is largely successful, although [[Fear of Thunder|being caught in a thunderstorm doesn't help]].

** Played straight in ''[[Nightfall (Literature)|Nightfall]]''. The people there are so afraid of dark that 15 minutes without light are enough for a 10% chance of becoming extremely claustrophobic.

* In ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'', the entire Andalite race is claustrophobic. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that Andalites are descended from herd animals that lived in grasslands.

* [[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 ''[[MaddigansMaddigan's Quest]]'', the TV series written by the same author, Eden the boy magician has this fear, which is useful to the plot because he is the only magical character and his absence in some scenes forces the other characters to think for themselves and get out of sticky situations without magic.

* Allie in [[Devon Monk]]'s ''[[Allie Beckstrom (Literature)|Allie Beckstrom]]'' series

* Garak the [[Magnificent Bastard]] from ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|DS9]]'' has a major case of claustrophobia that becomes a plot point on several occasions of the show. Also a case of [[Real Life Writes the Plot]] as the actor suffers from acute claustrophobia and it was an issue for actor as well as the character when filming the episode that reveals the condition.

* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. Tom Paris apparently suffers from this subconsciously, causing him to frequently crawl out of a [[Human Popsicle]] tube in one episode, much to the annoyance of Seven of Nine who had to keep putting him back in.

* Lister in ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|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).}}

* 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.

* The ''[[MashM*A*S*H (TVtelevision)|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 thea Seasonsixth Sixseason episode whenin which the cast were trapped in Buffy's house.

* In ''[[Stargate Universe (TV)|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 [[AuthorsAuthor's Saving Throw]]. However, the actor played the scene as calmly frantic rather than as if claustrophobia was severely impairing his judgment.

{{quote| '''Ed:''' *slap*<br />

'''Mike:''' Mr. D...you slapped me.<br />

'''Ed:''' Well, Mike, I had to do something, you were freaking out.<br />

* Vila Restal of ''[[BlakesBlake's Seven7]]'', though IIRC this was never mentioned again. As a thief he must have seen plenty of small hidey-holes, so let's just assume that Vila is [[Cower Power|scared of everything.]]

{{quote| '''Vila:''' I'd be glad to [crawl through the service shaft], it's just I've got this problem with enclosed spaces. There's a medical name for it.<br />

* In ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'', Avariels (winged elves) and Aarakocra [[Petting Zoo People| (bird people)]] are often depicted as suffering from claustrophobia as a racial trait.

* 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 (Visual Novel)|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.

* Two unavoidable instances of this in ''[[Escape Fromfrom Horrorland]]''. One is where you are crawling through incredibly cramped wooden tunnels while being chased by a mummy at high speed directly behind you, and it is very easy to get lost in the tunnels. The other time is when you have to shut yourself inside a coffin and use it as a boat down a sewer, while spiders enter the coffin and try to bite you.

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic)|Sluggy Freelance]]'' Zoe is able to give herself a panic attack in a dark tunnel through trying not to think about it.

{{quote| "At least I'm not claustrophobic. Not that I should ''think'' about claustrophobia right now... oops."}}

* Garrett on ''[[Extreme Ghostbusters (Animation)|Extreme Ghostbusters]]'' is claustrophobic, and has to confront his fear when facing a ghost that makes people's phobias come to life.

* [[Justice League (Animationanimation)|Hawkgirl]] in the [[DCAU]] is claustrophobic, as shown in "Just A Dream." She hyperventilates when trapped in a [[Hard Light|holographic box]] by [[Hologram|Luminus]], which foreshadows her nearly having a heart attack when [[Nightmare Fuel|Dr. Destiny]] traps her in a coffin [[Your Worst Nightmare|in an unescapable dream]].

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Appa is seen to have a great dislike for enclosed spaces, especially being underground. Makes sense, considering that he's a large animal who is used to flight.

* In ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]'', Squidward tells [[SpongeBob]] and Patrick that he is claustrophobic. However, [[SpongeBob]] and Patrick think that means he was scared of [[Santa Claus]]. Complete with Patrick trying to "scare" him by saying "Ho ho ho!"

* Jessie Bannon from ''[[Jonny Quest: theThe Real Adventures (Animation)|Jonny Quest the Real Adventures]]'' is claustrophobic, conveniently presented in an episode where her and Jonny end up stranded in an underwater laboratory with only a bunch of [[Nightmare Fuel|deadly mutant fish]] for company.

* Dizzy is revealed to suffer from this in ''[[Roughnecks Starship Troopers Chronicles (Animation)|Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles]]''. [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|It becomes a problem]] when [[The Squad]] has to recon a series of bug tunnels known as "Bug City".

* James Rhodes from ''[[Iron Man (Animationanimation)|Iron Man]]'' developed claustrophobia as a result of drowning while wearing his War Machine armor.

[[Category:ClaustrophobiaFear Tropes]]

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