Claustrophobia And Anxiety
Abstract
MRI machines can trigger claustrophobia and anxiety and the designers have known about this issue from the introduction of the first MRI machines. It is important to understand the specific qualities of MRI machines that trigger these reactions and it is also important to understand why the industry has not fully address this issue. The concept for this paper comes from the statistics of claustrophobia and anxiety incidents and from personal experience with claustrophobia during an MRI procedure.
The literature review demonstrated that between 5% and 10.6% of the people screened prior to an MRI scan are found to be claustrophobic, with another 7% discovering claustrophobic tendencies at the time of the procedure. Another 30% …show more content…
Claustrophobia is a very broad subject indeed, but again, my experience, or rather, my ordeal, has dictated the tighter focus of Claustrophobia and MRI scans.
Upon a cursory search on the subject of claustrophobia and MRI scans, I have found that this is actually quite a large problem with a rich gold mine of information about this subject. For instance, about 5% of the population is claustrophobic, yet 10% of all MRI scans in the United States fail because of this issue. There are several questions that I want to ask about this subject, not the least of which is why? Why do MRI machines trigger claustrophobia? Why aren’t more MRI machines designed with this issue in mind? What can be done to reduce or alleviate the anxiety that claustrophobia produces, in order for a patient to have a successful scan?
Claustrophobia is a fear of enclosed spaces but how does one ever really know they are claustrophobic. For my own personal experience, I had absolutely no clue that I was until I was face to face with a big mean looking machine called an …show more content…
Perspective
There seems to be many ways to define, diagnose or theorize about claustrophobia as it pertains to the MRI procedure, however, I believe that more literature review and exposure to other studies about this phenomenon will yield a better understanding of the various perspectives available for this issue as this project progresses. It appears that the perspective of a researcher, MRI technician, perspective MRI patient and advising physician have been seen in the literature so far, however, I am searching for a more complete understanding of the nature of the issue at this point.
Research Approach
I believe that this particular subject would best be explored by using a qualitative research approach, due in part to my own experience of the phenomenon and also because of the subjective nature of the experience of claustrophobia as it pertains to MRI scans. It seems to me that this is a personal and embarassing experience, both for the patient and for the technician and a qualitative research approach will most likely yield the essense and substance of this
MRI machines can trigger claustrophobia and anxiety and the designers have known about this issue from the introduction of the first MRI machines. It is important to understand the specific qualities of MRI machines that trigger these reactions and it is also important to understand why the industry has not fully address this issue. The concept for this paper comes from the statistics of claustrophobia and anxiety incidents and from personal experience with claustrophobia during an MRI procedure.
The literature review demonstrated that between 5% and 10.6% of the people screened prior to an MRI scan are found to be claustrophobic, with another 7% discovering claustrophobic tendencies at the time of the procedure. Another 30% …show more content…
Claustrophobia is a very broad subject indeed, but again, my experience, or rather, my ordeal, has dictated the tighter focus of Claustrophobia and MRI scans.
Upon a cursory search on the subject of claustrophobia and MRI scans, I have found that this is actually quite a large problem with a rich gold mine of information about this subject. For instance, about 5% of the population is claustrophobic, yet 10% of all MRI scans in the United States fail because of this issue. There are several questions that I want to ask about this subject, not the least of which is why? Why do MRI machines trigger claustrophobia? Why aren’t more MRI machines designed with this issue in mind? What can be done to reduce or alleviate the anxiety that claustrophobia produces, in order for a patient to have a successful scan?
Claustrophobia is a fear of enclosed spaces but how does one ever really know they are claustrophobic. For my own personal experience, I had absolutely no clue that I was until I was face to face with a big mean looking machine called an …show more content…
Perspective
There seems to be many ways to define, diagnose or theorize about claustrophobia as it pertains to the MRI procedure, however, I believe that more literature review and exposure to other studies about this phenomenon will yield a better understanding of the various perspectives available for this issue as this project progresses. It appears that the perspective of a researcher, MRI technician, perspective MRI patient and advising physician have been seen in the literature so far, however, I am searching for a more complete understanding of the nature of the issue at this point.
Research Approach
I believe that this particular subject would best be explored by using a qualitative research approach, due in part to my own experience of the phenomenon and also because of the subjective nature of the experience of claustrophobia as it pertains to MRI scans. It seems to me that this is a personal and embarassing experience, both for the patient and for the technician and a qualitative research approach will most likely yield the essense and substance of this