Psychosomatic Medicine 8:344-345 (1946)
© 1946 American Psychosomatic Society

Thoracoplasty and Claustrophobia

¹ Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore, Md.

Two illustrative cases are cited to call attention to a clinical picture of anxiety, restlessness, poor sleep, and great fear of suffocation in claustrophobic patients following thoracoplasty. They respond to this fear with rapid, shallow breathing, and pronounced irritative coughing. These patients appear to tolerate large actual encroachments on their breathing space badly, as if their previous symbolic fears were being realized. Treatment directed toward alleviating the tense emotional situation is effective in dispelling quickly the abnormal physiological response.

Note:
My thanks are due to Dr. Fred H. Heise and the staff of Trudeau Sanatorium for the opportunity of seeing these cases.