Dear Anita,

Your last post really resonates with me, but I am wondering why it is that I sometimes get this “trapped” feeling, mostly around people.

I sometimes had that reaction with friends too when I was younger, I would feel that the friendship or the person was somehow weighing on me and getting me anxious and I would find some way, or excuse, to distance myself from that friend.

But going further back, I really cannot understand why this should be. I had a good childhood and was loved by my parents. I don’t remember feeling trapped around them, I liked being with them and was not scared of them or anything like that. I was feeling trapped and scared sometimes around my brother, he was a few years older than me and would terrorize me quite a lot when my parents were away. I did feel trapped in that situation with him when we were alone in the house, I kept waiting for my parents to get back from work so that I would feel safe again. But could that really be the source of all of this? Could it really have been THAT bad…? I have a good relationship with him now, although we’ve had our differences in the past, he’s not an easy person.