پرسشنامه تنگناهراسی

The content and psychometric properties of the Claustrophobia Questionnaire (CLQ) are described. An earlier version of the CLQ was developed to test the hypothesis that claustrophobia is comprised of two distinct but related fears — the fear of suffocation and the fear of restriction [J. Anxiety Disord. 7 (1993) 281.]. The scale was used to assess patients undergoing the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure [J. Behav. Med. 21 (1998) 255.] and in participants with panic disorder [J. Abnorm. Psychol. 105 (1996) 146; Taylor, S., Rachman, S., & Radomsky, A. S. (1996). The prediction of panic: a comparison of suffocation false alarm and cognitive theories. Unpublished data.]. On the basis of these studies, we decided to revise and shorten the CLQ, collect normative data, and provide information on the scale's predictive and discriminant validity as well as its internal consistency and test–retest reliability. This was done through a set of four interconnected studies that included psychometric analyses of undergraduate and community adult questionnaire responses and behavioural testing. Results indicate that the CLQ has good predictive and discriminant validity as well as good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. The CLQ appears to be a reliable and sensitive measure of claustrophobia and its component fears. We encourage the use of the CLQ in a variety of clinical and research applications. The scale is provided in this paper for public use.

Claustrophobia is a fear of enclosed spaces (claustro means closed). It can be unpleasant and distressing, but most people who experience the fear find ways to cope, usually through the deliberate avoidance of small or enclosed places. Small or locked rooms, tunnels, cellars, elevators, subway trains, and crowded places are all stimuli that can provoke the fear, and people who react to one of these situations are likely to react to them all (Rachman, 1997). Fears of restriction and of being trapped, such as sitting in a dentist's chair or waiting in a long queue, are also associated with a fear of being enclosed and usually are regarded as signs of claustrophobia. A person who is claustrophobic is not frightened of an enclosed space per se, but is frightened of what might happen in the enclosed space. Just as agoraphobia is increasingly being regarded as a fear of what might happen in a public place (e.g., a fear of experiencing an episode of panic), so too can claustrophobia be re-conceptualized in this manner (Rachman, 1990).