The Legal System

[LSNP]

Anybody else out there completely frustrated with the legal system?

My stalker has recently posted a picture of me on a website. This bothers me a lot because the police can't do anything about it. Posting my picture does not constitute a violation of the No Contact order.

I wanted to post about this and express my frustration with the legal system but could not find a suitable forum. Would it be helpful to have a forum for this sort of thing? I realize that not all PTSD sufferers are victims of a crime but many are..... and I suspect many, like me, have found that perps can get away with SO much. It's frustrating, at best.

 

[Redtail]

LSNP,
I would contact the webiste and tell them the situation and request the ban the user and remove the photo. I feel for you in this situation. I get frustrated with the system too!!!

 

[seraphimfelldown]

I've had this too, the stalker posting pictures of me on a website. I spoke to the people hosting the website and they managed to get it taken off as violation of terms and conditions. I had to fax them a copy of the restraining order though. I hope you get some help in that area.

 

[Deleted member 5760]

I would absolutely contact the site.

 

[PTSDT]

How did you find out about the photos on line? Did your stalker contact you and tell you they were there? Was there another person who let you know who also knows him/her? If someone else contacted you on your stalkers behalf to let you know, I would make record of this. I would still contact the authorities. If you live in the US, contact your US Congressman for your district and see if someone in his office will intervene with the web site for you. Most websites have it set up where you can report something pretty easily. I got something slanderous someone wrote about my sister off of one social networking site that way. The site will usually be worried they could be sued. Hope the best happens with this. It is ridiculous how weirdos are allowed to cross too many lines, but not quite enough to do anything about them.

 

[anthony]

Yep... if you have a restraining order, I would contact the site and send it to them, and they may then remove them, may not... but atleast you tried.

The legal system has not caught up with the www unfortunately.

 

[LSNP]

I contacted the site but have not heard from them. Go figure. I contacted Facebook, too, a year or so ago when he kept coming in as a different username.... Nothing. It's frustrating. What I hate about my own behavior is that I can't seem to stop searching, searching, searching... to make sure he hasn't done anything else. I Google him every day, hoping for an arrest (he is wanted, currently, on probation violation per the policeman I talked to about my picture) or to find out if he is exploiting me out there, somewhere. It's sick behavior, I know, but I seem helpless to stop. How can I ever heal and forget when I am ever watchful, ever aware, always wondering what he is up to now.

I was retelling a story last night to somebody who wanted to know... and was shocked to find that in the retelling I sort of relived it. I screamed at the listener exactly as I did the stalker that day. I think it startled us both. :-( I need to just let it go... but I don't know how.

 

[PTSDT]

Hi LSNP,

I am so sorry to hear you are being stalked. I admire you for being so proactive. It is very courageous to contact authorities and try to help them find him and ask for any help you can get. It would be hard to keep it up through constant fear of finding an invasion of your privacy.

I am in prolonged exposure therapy. It is extremely difficult, but it does offer the opportunity to let it out exactly as if it was happening. I did what you did with your friend for a lot time. I would relive it. But, not until I started the official exposure therapy, did I truly start letting it out. For some reason, doing it with therapy and a proven plan makes a difference. I am really grieving it out differently.

I can't begin to imagine how PTSD because of a stalker feels. But I can understand a trauma not ending and knowing that you are still stuck within the trauma while trying to improve the PTSD symptoms. I am now working on a trauma that won't be solved. I am still where I live and where i live is the trauma. I can't afford to move. I am too sick to move. I am stuck in a place I don't belong. Being moved here is my trauma and the life I have led has been like living among cultists who will never get me. I am very isolated. However, I am reliving that trauma in this therapy and I am getting a little bit better. I know I'm not making sense. But, prolonged exposure therapy is facing it, letting it out and then deciding what you can do to keep surviving it as best you can.

I wish you luck and again admire you very much for your ability to keep fighting back.

 

[LSNP]

PTSDT... it is very late and I am tired.... a quick peek on the computer before bed. Please believe me when I tell you that I understand the being "stuck" where it hurts. My story is very, very long and very, very complicated or I would try to share some of it with you now, to let you know you are not alone. The being "stuck" feels very..... well. It isn't a good feeling. I've been better over the last month, perhaps I getting better, gradually, for good..... but I have been on the edge of the abyss more times than I care to remember.

Stay strong, keep your chin up, and know that there is always, always, always another day, a smile somewhere, a situation where you might suddenly find yourself "Surprised by Joy." :D