Claustrophobia was the fear of being in enclosed spaces, also known as stir crazy or cabin fever. It was a psychiatric condition known to affect several different species, including Humans and Cardassians.
In 2152, Hoshi Sato noted that a few days confined in the catwalk with the rest of the crew of Enterprise "should cure anyone of claustrophobia". (ENT: "The Catwalk")
Elim Garak was shown to have claustrophobia when he was working in the narrow crawlspace on Dominion Internment Camp 371. In 2375, the condition returned with a vengeance when Garak suffered several claustrophobic attacks due to his underlying guilt in betraying his people by helping Starfleet defeat the Dominion, which required the assistance of station counselor Ezri Dax to bring the condition under control. He also considered the quarters aboard the USS Defiant to be "rather claustrophobic." (DS9: "Second Skin", "By Inferno's Light", "Afterimage")
In 2371, Walter Baxter explained that his workouts, though he suffered from injuries by these workouts, were the only thing that stood between him and a severe case of cabin fever. (VOY: "Eye of the Needle")
Following an accident aboard a Kazon raider, Seska told Chakotay she would go stir crazy inside sickbay. (VOY: "State of Flux")
Tom Paris expressed feelings of claustrophobia when the USS Voyager crew was forced to occupy stasis chambers that shielded them from the effects of a mutara class nebula. (VOY: "One")
Starfleet Academy cadets, as well as any occupant of a Class 2 shuttlecraft, were known to experience "a case of Class 2 claustrophobia". At the academy, half a dozen cadets were often "shoehorned" in a Class 2 shuttlecraft for weeks at a time, creating extreme cases of claustrophobia among its occupants. (VOY: "Drone")
During their weekly briefing, B'Elanna Torres mentioned that the engineering personnel would become stir crazy while Voyager was trapped inside the Void. (VOY: "Night")
Marla Gilmore, a crewmember aboard the USS Equinox, developed claustrophobia after repeated attacks from nucleogenic lifeforms in the 2370s, which were most often fatal if their target was trapped in a confined space. (VOY: "Equinox")
In a letter expressed as voiceover dialogue in the writers' first draft script of ENT: "Dear Doctor", Phlox wrote to Doctor Lucas, "You were wondering whether I get 'cabin fever.' It hasn't happened to me yet."
Known sufferers[]
- Walter Baxter (VOY: "Eye of the Needle")
- Elim Garak (DS9: "Broken Link", "By Inferno's Light", "Afterimage")
- Marla Gilmore (VOY: "Equinox")
- Harry Kim (VOY: "Memorial", "Nightingale")
- McMillan (VOY: "11:59")
- Neelix (VOY: "Phage")
- Q (as a Human) (TNG: "Deja Q")
- Tom Paris (VOY: "One")
- Hoshi Sato (ENT: "Fight or Flight", "Sleeping Dogs", "Shockwave, Part II", "The Catwalk")
While not explicitly identified as claustrophobic, Sklar mentioned that he despised enclosed spaces.
Phobias |
---|
Agoraphobia • Aquaphobia • Aviophobia • Claustrophobia • Nihiliphobia • Transporter phobia • Xenophobia |
Fear of alien abduction • Fear of death • Fear of failure • Fear of the future • Fear of heights • Fear of intimacy • Fear of losing control • Fear of punishment |