Condition
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder in which the brain's fear circuits react strongly to enclosed spaces, driven by an overactive stress response and altered neurotransmitter signaling. Among supplements, yohimbine has been looked at most, and small trials found phobia symptoms improved when it was added to exposure-based therapy. The evidence is limited, though: only two small studies with 24 participants contributed, and one tested fear of flying rather than enclosed spaces.
Sources: PMID 19223151; PMID 22116378
- Supplements studied
- 1
- Graded outcomes
- 1
- Trials
- 1
- People studied
- 24
Evidence by supplement
- Strong
- Moderate
- Limited
- Very limited
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phobia Symptoms Small Improvement | Improves (the measure goes down) | Small effect | 2 studies | 24 people | ||
Studies that measured phobia symptoms | ||||||
Key findings
- Phobia SymptomsImproves (the measure goes down)
The Claustrophobia protocol
1 primary supplement · 2 supporting supplements
- L-Theanine200–400 mg as needed
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Studies cited
11 studies from PubMed
- Melatonin responses to clonidine and yohimbine challenges
- Psychological and neuroendocrine responses to social stress and to the administration of the alpha-2-receptor antagonist, yohimbine, in highly trained endurance athletes in comparison to untrained healthy controls
- Effects of yohimbine on cerebral blood flow, symptoms, and physiological functions in humans
- Yohimbine treatment of organic erectile dysfunction in a dose-escalation trial
- Yohimbine for erectile dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials
- Yohimbine: the effects on body composition and exercise performance in soccer players
- Facilitation of fear extinction in phobic participants with a novel cognitive enhancer: a randomized placebo controlled trial of yohimbine augmentation
- Pharmacologically induced alcohol craving in treatment seeking alcoholics correlates with alcoholism severity, but is insensitive to acamprosate
- Effect of anti-obesity drugs promoting energy expenditure, yohimbine and ephedrine, on gastric emptying in obese patients
- Comparative efficacy of yohimbine against pyridostigmine for the treatment of orthostatic hypotension in autonomic failure
- Does yohimbine hydrochloride facilitate fear extinction in virtual reality treatment of fear of flying? A randomized placebo-controlled trial