Assault Almost Choked To Death

[Insight]

Hello,
I am a 22 year old male. Me and my old brother got into a vicious fight a few months ago. The fight took place in my garage and it was just the two of use. At one point in the fight, he had me on my back and was choking me. I felt like I was fighting for my life. I used every bit of strength to get him off me. We wrestled around some more and I got ontop of him and said "STOP IT". I then let off of him and then he went inside the house... 15 minutes later he came back out and started instigating another fight. I tried walking away but he followed me and got in my face. Then he starts swinging on me and then once again had me pinned down started choking me... I used all my stength to get him off me and got ontop of him and said "knock that shit off" I let off of him and tried going outside but he followed me and continued trying to fight. I felt like I was fighting for my life so at this point I ran away. Came back later that night and called the cops. Woke up the next day with a chipped tooth, black eye, and bruises.

Ever since this event I have had:
Apathy, depression and anxiety
Nightmares
Difficulty concentrating
Emotional numbness

Can anyone else relate to being choked?

 

[Riot]

Can anyone else relate to being choked?

@Zach_W, yes, I can relate. It's a truly frightening experience, for sure.

 

[anonymous]

Yes, I can relate.

More importantly, have you seen a professional about the difficulties you've been experiencing since this happened? If it was only a few months ago, I would get help ASAP. Like, make as many phone calls as you need to make tomorrow. If you're at risk for PTSD, the next few months are integral and could very well be the difference between PTSD and anxiety/depression that can be recovered from. To me, all of the symptoms you've listed can be conflated into anxiety and depression, which are normal if you went through a stressful and potentially life-threatening situation/traumatic experience in the recent past.

Do you have other trauma in your background? Child abuse (either emotional or physical)? A traumatic encounter with death (seeing a loved one die, bad car accident, volunteer EMS/firefighter, etc)? These will increase your risk.

I would seriously see a qualified professional right away to mitigate the possibility of developing a chronic problem and recover from the anxiety and depression.

 

[Insight]

Anonymous,
Thank you for the reply, yes I could tell there was a change in my psyche and so I got help as soon as possible. I have been seeing a psychologists once a week and I have an appointment to see a phychiatrist in two weeks. It seems every time I see my psychologist I feel worse after. Which I think is because it is a reminder of the trauma for me? The phychiatrist part kinda scares me because the side effects of anti-depresent medication seem scary, not to mention being physically dependent on an SSRI.

And to answer your question, yes, my biological dad was emotional abusive and physically abusive toward my older brothers. He has been in prison since I was 14.

Roit:
Can you share with me the experience you had that was life threatening/traumic?


Thank you all so much for the support.

 

[Riot]

@Zach_W, the first experience wasn't choking exactly. I was around 7 at the time. I was ambushed, and my attacker put me in a choke hold before covering my mouth. It felt much more suffocating in regards to breathing than the second experience, when I was much older. That experience was much different, but both were life threatening. The second experience led to me nearly blacking out, and it was very rapid. Awful doesn't really do it much justice.

 

[Insight]

@Riot, I could not image the trauma that you were put through. I read your story from a thread you posted a long time ago, I am deeply sorry to hear that that happened to you. I hope you have a good recovery from your experiences. Just like my psychologist always says, "your reaction is a normal reaction to an abnormal event."

Much love,
-Zach

 

[Deleted member 29920]

Yes, choked by two different boys, and choked on a candy. Now have significant difficulty, eating is huge problem because it caused choking phobia :(

 

[Riot]

@Zach_W, thank you for the well wishes, and back at you.