claustrophobic relationship

[alpacinou]

Can I use "claustrophobic" to talk about the relationship between two people? Is it strange?

What do you think about the sentence I have written?

They have a really claustrophobic relationship. She is not allowed to talk to any man without her husband's approval.

 

[GoesStation]

You can use it, but it doesn't apply to the abusive, controlling relationship you describe.

 

[alpacinou]

You can use it, but it doesn't apply to the abusive, controlling relationship you describe.

When is it used?

 

[emsr2d2]

I've used it to describe a perfectly happy couple I used to know. They were together all the time, except for the 8 hours a day they both went to work. Outside of work, they were together at all times. They holidayed together, shopped together, visited friends together, took the car to the mechanic together ... you get the picture. They had been married for eight years when I met them and they had never spent a night apart. If you invited one of them to something, the other came along too. They would phone and text each other multiple times a day, not for any important reason but just to see how their day was going. Some people might view all of that as cute and an indication of how in love they were - it sent shivers down my spine and I worried for the utter co-dependency of it. To me, spending so much time with just one other person would be claustrophobic. However, I can see that I was putting my personal feelings into my description of their relationship - I'm sure they wouldn't have described it as claustrophobic.

 

[jutfrank]

I'd answer this very simply—a relationship can be described as claustrophobic if it feels claustrophobic to the person describing it. You have to know what the feeling of claustrophobia is like, of course.

 

[alpacinou]

Honestly, I'm a bit confused. Imagine your wife tells you "our neighbors, John and Jane have a very claustrophobic relationship". How would you interpret that?

Does it have a positive or a negative connotation? "Claustrophobic" is a negative word.

 

[GoesStation]

Honestly, I'm a bit confused. Imagine your wife tells you "our neighbors, John and Jane have a very claustrophobic relationship". How would you interpret that?

Does it have a positive or a negative connotation? "Claustrophobic" is a negative word.

I'd ask them what they meant. It's not something someone would be likely to say without a lot of explanation.

 

[emsr2d2]

Honestly, I'm a bit confused. Imagine your wife tells you "Our neighbors, John and Jane, have a very claustrophobic relationship". How would you interpret that?

Does it have a positive or a negative connotation? "Claustrophobic" is a negative word.

It has a negative connotation. I would assume that either John or Jane had told my wife that he/she felt claustrophobic in the relationship.

 

[alpacinou]

It has a negative connotation. I would assume that either John or Jane had told my wife that he/she felt claustrophobic in the relationship.

That's the problem. You say it's negative, but earlier you mentioned that you would use it to talk about a very happy and inseparable couple!