[rdgrad15]

I tend to get anxious over small things at times. Everyone does, but there are times when I wonder if there is a difference between anxiety and claustrophobia or if they basically go hand in hand and are pretty much related. Sometimes when I am in a large crowd, I start to feel like my personal space is being invaded. I know it is no ones fault since it can be crowded but I still feel like I have no breathing room. At times though, sometimes I get so anxious that I have to leave the location if possible.

Depends on the situation. It used to not bother me as much when I was younger but now it does. And sometimes I wonder if it can distort your vision or how you perceive things. The reason I say this is because sometimes during a period of feeling anxious in a cramped space, everything seems smaller or different. For example, one night when I was at a night time mass at my college, I was standing at the front row after greeting everyone in attendance.

While I was standing there, I started to have the same kind of feeling, as if there was less room than there was.. Now despite it being a Catholic chapel, it had an odd layout. It was in the form of a circle, so the seating layout was awkward. If you were in the front row, you were looking at the people directly across the room, if anyone was sitting there. That or out a window. On this particular night, it was more crowded than usual, and as I was standing there, I got the weird sense that the room had changed a bit.

It felt as if it had gotten smaller and everything, including the seating set-up seem to have shifted. It only lasted for like a minute or two but during that time, I felt claustrophobic, and when I got that weird sense that things shifted or was moving, it caused me to feel extremely anxious and almost left for a few minutes. I didn't leave though and I was fine. Just don't know if these feelings and senses are just simply from feeling cramped or the signs of a anxiety attack or something. I never had an attack though so I am not sure.

[Skeezyks]

Hello rdgrad15: Well... the Skeezyks isn't sufficiently knowledgeable to differentiate between these various experiences. I've never had panic attacks myself. At least not as I understand them. What has happened with me is simply that the longer I'm out in public (which isn't much anymore) I've just become gradually more-&-more anxious until I finally leave the situation.

It's not as bad now as it used to be. But, years ago, it would become so bad that I would begin to feel as though I was floating outside of my body! I never sought any treatment for it. I just toughed it out. But, anyway, I know that the anxiety one can experience, as a result of being out in public, can produce some difficult, frightening symptoms. I don't know if a person can have anxiety but not experience claustrophobia or agoraphobia. I presume they can. But I would imagine that, having generalized anxiety, would make a person more prone to having phobias to being in confined spaces or out in public. Perhaps it's different for everyone.