I hate the dark

And I’ve been sleeping in it for all of college because of my roommate. I keep quiet about it because I don’t want to mess up her sleep but really that’s just been sacrificing my own. I have been scared of the dark since I was like 3 years old. I never slept in the dark my whole life except when I had to at sleepovers, and then I tended not to sleep at all. I get nightmares sleeping in the dark, I see disturbing and frightening things (I was staring at a disfigured demented man slumped over on the ground, pale face and gaunt eyes staring right at me for a lot of the night-now that it’s light I see it’s just a laundry bag, a pair of disembodied leathery faces contorted in pain now I see are a pair of shoes-I call these things visual distortions rather than true hallucinations) I wake up frequently, and when I wake up I’m often distressed from the nightmares or become distressed when I see all the disturbing things in the room.

I’ve been dealing with this for too long and I don’t know how to bring it up to my roommate. I feel embarassed to still have this issue as a grown adult and I was hoping I would eventually get over my fear and become acclimated as I had to spend every night with it but that just hasn’t happened.

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What’s the minimum amount of light you need? Can you get a small night light

Here’s a small dimmable one

I’m sure you could convince your roommate to let you use something like that.

Don’t feel bad, I’m the same way.
I always sleep with a night light, for this reason. Sometimes, I just turn the light on in the next room and then close the door most of the way, to let some light in.
My distortions can get pretty bad, I often think some creature is leaning or hovering over me. Light is necessary.

I’m just the opposite. Darkness can be cool, I like to make some trips to the liqour store at night. Makes me calm and helps me getting to sleep when I get to excited with my disease. I used to be afraid of the dark as well, but night is a good time for thinking and darkness the best place to do it. I mean thinking not getting depressed :slight_smile: