Cabin fever

For other uses, see Cabin fever (disambiguation).

Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period (as in a simple country vacation cottage during a long rain or snow). Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, paranoia, irrational frustration with everyday objects, forgetfulness, laughter, excessive sleeping, distrust of anyone they are with, and an urge to go outside even in the rain, snow, dark or hail.

The phrase is also used humorously to indicate simple boredom from being home alone. The term was first recorded in 1918. Other references have the term in use at least to 1906.^{[citation needed]}

Proposed therapy for cabin fever

One therapy for cabin fever may be as simple as getting out and interacting with nature. Research has proven that even brief interactions with nature can promote improved cognitive functioning and overall well-being.

In popular culture

• On an episode of MythBusters, the hosts test the myth of cabin fever, isolating themselves for a period of time in the Alaskan winter while being observed and taking cognitive and stress tests. The test results were unusable due to incorrect testing procedures; however, one host, Adam Savage, exhibited all four of the symptoms of cabin fever they were looking for, while the other, Jamie Hyneman, only exhibited one (excessive sleep). They deemed the myth "plausible".
• Stephen King's novel The Shining (and its film adaptation) involves cabin fever. The plot follows a family of three trapped in an isolated resort in the dead of winter. Cabin fever stories may also involve a person or group of people on a deserted island or on a long space voyage.
• A 2002 horror film with the same name is named for the phenomenon. The film is about a group of college students, vacationing in an isolated cabin in the woods, who become infected with a mysterious disease. Actual cabin fever sets in among the group as they begin to contract the gruesome disease, one by one.
• In the video game Combat Arms (video game), Cabin Fever is a selectable mode in which the player and 7 (or less) other players are trapped in a cabin, trying to battle hordes of the undead.
• In an episode of The Simpsons (Season 8 Episode 12: Mountain of Madness), Homer and Mr. Burns get trapped in a cabin by an avalanche. They start suspecting each other of wanting to murder one another, and eventually go into an all-out brawl before being saved by a freak propane explosion.
• A Mixtape by rapper Wiz Khalifa
• In Muppet Treasure Island, after spending weeks at sea with no breeze to move the ship, most of the crew begin to develop cabin fever; then spontaneously burst into the musical number "Cabin Fever" where they sing of how the madness is affecting themselves.
• An episode of Lost in season 4 is titled "Cabin Fever", having to do with a literal cabin (Jacob's).
• In a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, Greg Heffley and his family are stuck inside his house during a snowstorm and Greg starts to develop cabin fever.
• In the futuristic sci-fi film Pandorum, crew members of a space ship suffer from a fictional psychological condition called pandorum which has similarities to cabin fever.
• Season 3 Episode 8 of comedy series Malcolm in the Middle sees Malcolm's brother Francis acquire a new job in Alaska and gets shut in a cabin during a blizzard; slowly he gets cabin fever with the other inhabitants, only to be saved at the last minute when the blizzard finally ends.
• "In a Far Country" is a short story by Jack London that chronicles how two men under the influence of cabin fever in the Far North winter devolve into murderous savages.