When i was little i hated to be in small places, i wasnt so bad if there was light but i was tarrified of the dark (i slept with the hall light on my lamp and i had x-mass lights around my room all year..my mom and dad turned them off when they went to bed and because i never have slept through the night i would wake up screaming it was to dark) if the small place was dark i would freak out. I dont mind small places if there is light but no light i still pannic

I definitely do because one time his wife came home and he shoved me in a closet in the basement and told me to hide silently. Another time another teacher stopped by the house unnanounced and he forced me to hide behind a door in a very small bathroom.

When my hubby and i make love it has to be with the light on can't be in the dark brings back to many alful memmoris for me that way.

Can't be in a tight place eitehr or i get panic attacks.

I had never connected the two before - but I am definitely claustrophobic and when I think about it - it does have some of the same feelings as some of the abuse. Actually a lot of those feelings. I felt trapped when I was being abused. There was always some stupid reason that the abuse was necessary - absolute bs - but I felt compelled to cooperate and totally caught - stuck. It does feel the same. Thanks for the post. Wow - I had no idea there was a connection. But the lack of freedom - or something like that - not sure.....

With me, my abuse and my being claustrophobic go completely hand in hand. I hadn't said in my profile or in my journal yet, but when I didn't do what my abuser wanted me to, I'd be locked in a closet or a bathroom for sometimes an hour or two. Maybe more. Now because of that I can only be in elevators for a short amount of time and I don't like to be in one if there's more than two or three people in it at a time. I also don't like being in a tiny bathroom or closet. Most of the time I keep my own closet messy on purpose, I guess because in the back of my head I know that no one can fit inside it when the door's closed.

i have the opposite reaction...i like closed off places...where i can see everything that is in that space. i am definately alone.
if there are people in the room with me...then not so much...i like to be near the exit or at least my back to a wall.
but it's more just like...i don't like being so close to them....not the actual space being small