Hello everyone,
I've been feeling really alone, especially this past week as we have just scratch the surface of the in therapy. I'm not sure I'm ready to share my story yet, but I have been reading many posts when I'm in a place I feel safe to do so. This website is tremendous, supportive, and shows that so many symptoms and thoughts I have don't make me crazy and that I'm not alone... They're "normal responses to abnormal situations," as one person put it. I plan to keep reading through posts and I hope to explain my story or ask question. The analogy my therapist and I use is that I'm like an onion. I just peeled off one layer recently, and i have many more go.
Without going into detail, I'm having to work through:
Growing up in an alcoholic household.
Various degrees of sexual abuse from childhood into adulthood from multiple people.
An abusive (and only) relationship
Figuring out my sexual and gender identity in a strict religious household.
Some of these I feel I've "gotten over," but in reality I've gotten really good at masking, avoidance, dissociation, etc. Unfortunately in therapy I'm realizing I'm not "over" these things and just how much they did, and still do, impact my life, thinking, and behaviors.
I'll leave my intro to that for now, but again, I appreciate this forum exists. Please pardon any typos...My phone keeps autocorrecting things improperly (go technology!).
I've been feeling really alone, especially this past week as we have just scratch the surface of the in therapy. I'm not sure I'm ready to share my story yet, but I have been reading many posts when I'm in a place I feel safe to do so. This website is tremendous, supportive, and shows that so many symptoms and thoughts I have don't make me crazy and that I'm not alone... They're "normal responses to abnormal situations," as one person put it. I plan to keep reading through posts and I hope to explain my story or ask question. The analogy my therapist and I use is that I'm like an onion. I just peeled off one layer recently, and i have many more go.
Without going into detail, I'm having to work through:
Growing up in an alcoholic household.
Various degrees of sexual abuse from childhood into adulthood from multiple people.
An abusive (and only) relationship
Figuring out my sexual and gender identity in a strict religious household.
Some of these I feel I've "gotten over," but in reality I've gotten really good at masking, avoidance, dissociation, etc. Unfortunately in therapy I'm realizing I'm not "over" these things and just how much they did, and still do, impact my life, thinking, and behaviors.
I'll leave my intro to that for now, but again, I appreciate this forum exists. Please pardon any typos...My phone keeps autocorrecting things improperly (go technology!).