男人真的比女人更易患幽閉恐懼症
Q. Are men more likely to be claustrophobic than women?
問：男性比女性更容易患幽閉恐懼症嗎？
A. The opposite seems to be true, as is the case in almost all anxiety disorders, large epidemiological studies have found. The reasons for such a gender difference are not clear, and claustrophobia, the feeling of extreme panic when faced with being in a confined or enclosed space, is not as well studied as some other phobias.
答：不。幾乎所有關於焦慮症的大型流行病學研究都顯示，事實恰好相反。人們尚不清楚爲什麼會出現這樣的性別差異，對於幽閉恐懼症（患者在面對侷限或封閉空間時會感覺極度恐慌）的研究也不像其它恐懼症那樣充分。
One situation that has been comparatively well researched is what happens when people need magnetic resonance imaging, which often involves a prolonged period of confinement in a small enclosure, the perfect storm of claustrophobia triggers.
目前研究相對深入的是人們接受磁共振成像檢查時的情況。此時人需要長時間待在儀器內部的狹小封閉空間中不能亂動，非常容易觸發幽閉恐懼症。
A recent study found that certain factors seem to correlate with an increase in claustrophobic reactions, including being female, going into the scanner head first and having a previous negative experience with the test. Another large study involving scanners with a shorter chamber and noise reduction found a significant reduction in claustrophobic reactions, but being female and middle-aged were still associated with a higher rate of claustrophobia.
最近的研究發現，有一些因素似與幽閉恐懼反應的增加相關，其中包括性別爲女性、第一次進入掃描頭、在以前的檢查中曾有過負面體驗等。另一項大型研究使用了腔室較短並經過降噪的掃描儀，結果發現幽閉恐懼反應顯著減少，但身爲女性和年屆中年仍與較高的幽閉恐懼症發生率相關。
It has often been assumed that claustrophobia develops as a response to a traumatic experience, like being trapped in a closet as a child, but newer research suggests a genetic component. In one study in mice, a single defective gene was associated with claustrophobia.
人們通常認爲，幽閉恐懼症的發生是對創傷性經歷（如兒時被困在衣櫃裏）的反應，但新的研究表明，遺傳因素在其中也有一定的作用。小鼠研究發現，有一個單基因缺陷與幽閉恐懼症相關。
