[Sherina610]

I really don't understand what could possibly be wrong with me!
I am 26 years old and I am scared of the dark, turning off the light and walking out of a room in the darkness makes me freez! I get the feeling that someone or something might grab me or maybe something is watching me and I can't see it. Not just the dark, I am always scared when i am alone.
When I am staying up late at night, I fear that there might be someone in the garden, but I know for sure that the gate is closed because I check more than enough to feel safe.
what makes it worse is that when I am in the house and having that feeling that someone is out there in my garden, I panic and I can't even move to close the windows or the doors to the terrace, because I am just so afraid to see whatever is waiting for me out there! But again, I know for sure that nothing and no one is out there!
So what do you call this??
it's a terrible feeling!

[hurtingintn]

welcome and good luck..
pjk

[Sherina610]

Thanks... Do you have any idea why am I such a chicken??

[(JD)]

At this point I would consider it generalized anxiety. It could be though that you experienced something upsetting in your past that makes you feel unsafe presently... something at night or in the dark? I wouldn't call you a chicken though. Take some measures to be sure you are safe (locks on doors, taking marital arts class etc) and then work on the anxiety. It could be that a medication can help you with that, there are some good meds for anxiety on the market today. I hope you find ways to reduce your fear. Feeling safe is well worth the effort!

[Wants2Fly]

Hi there and welcome --

I did not like to sleep in the dark until I was in my 40s. My anxiety was not as extreme as yours. I kept a night light on.

I slept much better after I started having dogs. My first was a Doberman, and he slept with one eye open. He was wonderful.

Then somewhere along the way I got over it. No good reason why. I just got used to sleeping in the dark -- really dark, and now I like dark out shades on the window.

[Doh2007]

It sounds like you have a tendency to be phobic. Are either of your parents phobic? I believe that phobias can be treated pretty easily.

[eskielover]

I know when I watched scarry moves about people getting attacked & things happening scarry in the dark, I would get feelings that someone was watching me & would run upstairs to make sure no one could see me.

When I was just a kid, there was a reported peeping "tom" in the neighborhood that would go between the houses....my room had a window on the side of the house......always made sure my blinds were closed.

I am 55 & still remember an Alfred Hitchcock T V show that really scared me when I was around in junior high.....someone breaking into a house in a really scarry way......that feeling still hits sometimes when I am alone on a dark rainy night.

In other words, it doesn't have to have been something actually that happens to you when you were young but....just visualizing something in a movie or TV can also do it....& somethimes those things can stick with us throughout our lives & then we can't pin point it to anything actual that happened......but looking back, those things could seem as real at the time.

It's not anything really wrong with you but our minds can have a control that we don't even really understand where it comes from.

Just a thought from my own experiences,
Debbie

[Sherina610]

Thank you very much for your replies, I didn't expect anyone to answer me so now I am really touched!
I don't think that any of my parents had any kinds of phobias but I guess I should take the anxiety test first then see what i should do.
Thanks a lot everyone, your support made a difference!