Claustrophobia - 'I had never experienced claustrophobia before'

Andrea's experience: the Channel Tunnel

"All I could see was metal. Above us, and to both sides, walls were closing in. Stuck in a row of cars and surrounded by a safety cage, I would soon be under the sea. No way out.

"A fireball of terror ripped upwards from my belly. I screamed and fumbled frantically for the door handle as another metal grid came down around the vehicle behind us.

"I clambered out into the train compartment - a cage within a cage within a cage, to my mind - in a state of total agitation, desperate to escape.

"I had never experienced claustrophobia before. I collapsed in tears, my heart racing, breathing wrecked, mind cleared of everything except an appalling sense of dread. 'I'm a psychotherapist', I thought. 'I should be able to cope'."

Taken from The Daily Telegraph March 3 2008: Trapped... Then I discovered that I was claustrophobic