I am NO expert, but I think I would try to make a smaller space super comfortable. Don't jump from a huge room to a closet, but maybe work your way down . If a room is filled with lots of things you love and appeals to you, you may be able to spend time in it. Also, maybe something like yoga that would let you focus your mind on something else like your breathing would help to calm you down. Good luck.
I help people with phobias. It is not the closed space that makes you scared but yourself thinking about it! I suppose you get scared of being in a closed space even without you being inside a closed space?!
You need to pay attention to the pictures in your head and what you imagine. These pictures and voices in your head is what makes you scared. In your head you can push these pictures away, remove the colour and sounds. Imagine you are erasing them in your head. This will make it feel at least slightly better.
A hypnotherapist should be able to help you in one or two sessions
From
http://www.birminghamhypnotherapyclinic.com
Claustrophobia
His claustrophobia was starting to act up in the airplane. He refused to go into the tunnel because of his claustrophobia.
Claustrophobic is the adjective form of claustrophobia.
I suffer from claustrophobia in elevators.
Niall Horan has confirmed that he has claustrophobia.
He suffers from claustrophobia and is very nervous in elevators. The cramped quarters of a Soviet spacecraft was no place for someone with claustrophobia.
The suffix for "claustrophobia" is "-phobia," which means an irrational fear of something.
You need lots of windows in your house if you have claustrophobia.A dark closet would make a person with claustrophobia crazy.When I went into the mine, I discovered that I had claustrophobia.
We use the term claustrophobia for the fear of confined spaces. A link can be found below.
Claustrophobia (from claustrum "a shut in place")
People can be diagnosed with claustrophobia at any age. Usually people get claustrophobia when they are young.
Claustrophobia