What I find hardest to deal with is the colossal unfairness of it all. I had to drop out of school, move hundreds of miles away, and start again from scratch in another city, at another university. I'm covered in scars and struggle with friendships and relationships owing to my horror of getting close to people after what happened. My ex-fiancé, meanwhile, is busy doing his PhD, jetting off to philosophy conferences all over Europe, and dating one of his undergraduates, and is as happy as a psychopath is capable of being.
The fact that no one believes that a tiny, bespectacled philosophy student could do so much damage.
My ex's voice. He never shouted; instead, he'd say the most evil, appalling, unholy things to me in this quiet, gentle, velvety voice that made whatever he was saying sound ten times worse than it would have done had he yelled. I still hear it in my head sometimes when things get bad.
When my PTSD got so bad that I had to drop out of college, I wound up in a clinic near London famous in the UK for dealing with rock'n'roll excess. Treatment consisted almost entirely of group therapy sessions, and I was told that I couldn't discuss what had happened to me because the other patients would, and I quote, "find it too upsetting". (They also yelled at me for fainting when my meds made my blood pressure go through the floor, but that's another story.)
Also: kitchen knives. I can't stand them. My ex thought they were some kind of marital aid. It might sound a little silly, but I can't be around them without feeling uneasy, and I freak out whenever anyone accidentally injures themselves while cooking.
The fact that no one believes that a tiny, bespectacled philosophy student could do so much damage.
My ex's voice. He never shouted; instead, he'd say the most evil, appalling, unholy things to me in this quiet, gentle, velvety voice that made whatever he was saying sound ten times worse than it would have done had he yelled. I still hear it in my head sometimes when things get bad.
When my PTSD got so bad that I had to drop out of college, I wound up in a clinic near London famous in the UK for dealing with rock'n'roll excess. Treatment consisted almost entirely of group therapy sessions, and I was told that I couldn't discuss what had happened to me because the other patients would, and I quote, "find it too upsetting". (They also yelled at me for fainting when my meds made my blood pressure go through the floor, but that's another story.)
Also: kitchen knives. I can't stand them. My ex thought they were some kind of marital aid. It might sound a little silly, but I can't be around them without feeling uneasy, and I freak out whenever anyone accidentally injures themselves while cooking.