What Is Cabin Fever Really, and How Can You Cope With It?

The so-called “cabin syndrome” has attracted the attention of many specialists in what is defined as:

• A type of phobia caused by being confined to a place involuntarily, leading the person to regard that place as a safe environment.

However, this term has traditionally been associated with the opposite feeling: the urge to escape from an enclosed space, despite the risks this may involve. In this post, we debunk this concept and explore its true meaning.

What are the symptoms of Cabin Syndrome?

The symptoms of cabin syndrome have not been clearly defined; in fact, this is one of the reasons why it is not recognised as a medical condition.

Among the reports from people who have been exposed to stressors and have developed symptoms consistent with this syndrome are feelings of:

• Irritability
• Bad mood
• Boredom
• Depression or a sense of dissatisfaction

As we can see, this is a vague symptomatic description of a condition that combines various stress-related emotional disorders.

Specific phobia related to being confined

The condition known as “specific phobia”, classified within group 6 of “mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders” and the subgroup “anxiety or fear-related disorders”, is officially defined as:

“Specific phobia is characterised by marked or excessive anxiety or fear that consistently occurs when exposed to one or more specific objects or situations (for example, proximity to certain animals, flying, heights, enclosed spaces, seeing blood or injuries) and that is out of proportion to the actual danger.

The phobic object or situation is avoided or endured with intense fear or anxiety.

The symptoms persist for at least several months and are severe enough to cause significant distress or impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.”

How can we deal with it?

The most advisable course of action in this situation is:

If these recommendations do not work, seek help from a professional who can assess your psychological health according to proper diagnostic criteria and prescribe appropriate treatment for your case.

Conclusions

Healthy social relationships play an essential role in maintaining a person’s good state of health, and they influence behaviour as well as psychological and physiological variables.

Such is their impact that poor social health can negatively affect organic systems such as the immune system, the cardiovascular system, and the nervous system.

So, in case you had not realised it yet, part of your health and that of your loved ones is linked to the social contact you have with one another and with other people.

Bibliography References

1. Firth, J., Marx, W., Dash, S., Carney, R., Teasdale, S. B., Solmi, M., … Sarris, J. (2019). The Effects of Dietary Improvement on Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Psychosomatic Medicine, 81(3), 265–280.
2. Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., & Layton, J. B. (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: A meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine, 7(7), e1000316.
3. Rosenblatt, P. C., Anderson, R. M., & Johnson, P. A. (1984). The meaning of “cabin fever”. Journal of Social Psychology, 123(1), 43–53.
4. Schuch, F. B., Vancampfort, D., Richards, J., Rosenbaum, S., Ward, P. B., & Stubbs, B. (2016). Exercise as a treatment for depression: A meta-analysis adjusting for publication bias. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 77, 42–51.
5. Umberson, D., & Karas Montez, J. (2010). Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Policy. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(1_suppl), S54–S66.
6. World Health Organization. (2018). Clasificación Internacional de Enfermedades, (11ª revisión).

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