4: Antidotes to Cabin Fever

Dealing with and managing such a folk syndrome as cabin fever tends, as Rosenblatt, Anderson, and Johnson (1984) note, to be through self-help or support groups rather than any direct medical, psychiatric or psychological intervention. Yet, as we saw earlier, symptoms that feature in cabin fever do attract medical and psychological attention, not least in studies of how individuals and groups adapt to restricted spaces or routines for long periods in, for example, prisons, remote settings, on ships, planes or even spacecraft. Indeed, there has been considerable effort to understand how confinement, not least in restricted spatial environments, impacts on human health and well-being. The pandemic led to a renewed interest and concern about the physical and psychological dangers of lockdown. In turn, many commentators began to offer their best advice for mitigating the effect of confinement and isolation. In this chapter, we consider the kinds of antidotes to the folk or culture-bound syndrome of cabin fever. In light of the pandemic, the term antidote seems apposite, not least given the way that cabin fever has been relatable to both physical infection and psychological duress.