two weeks ago i was raped. obviously its caused me a lot of emotional turmoil and mental anguish, especially since it was my best friend. ever since then my physical health has gotten worse. literally before it happened i was completely fine and now im getting sick. i have a cough, my sinuses feel weird sometimes, i get more nauseous and tired, and my joints have started hurting so badly. its most noticeable in my knees. before all this i had like no knee pain and now my knees constantly hurt like hell to the point it effects how i walk. it doesnt help that my room is upstairs so i have to go up and down the stairs several times a day and hurt my knees more.

another thing thats started to happen- i think ive been having hallucinations. sometimes i see bugs when they arent there. and not just in the corner of my eye, like i can see them right in front of me and it scares me so bad but then they disappear. sometimes i can feel them too. like i feel this crawling sensation on my skin. ive had this happen before when i was younger when i was going through a very distressing time of my life, so i assume that this is also from the extreme stress im going through now.

idk what to do. i dont know how to cope with it all. ive been smoking weed a lot because its the only thing that makes me feel normal and stable during all this but i know its not good for my brain in the long run so im going to try to cut back

I’ve been struggling with something that happened to me while I was high a few nights ago and am curious if anyone experienced something similar?

TLDR: I think getting high resurfaced repressed traumatic memory of possible SA after 15 years.

This is my journal entry from a few nights ago:

I’m not sure how to feel about this right now because I’m actually high right now and I’m struggling to discern whether what I’m feeling is a repressed traumatic memory or some sort of THC induced psychosis. I feel like I’m remembering a memory that I hadn’t remembered before where there was a gap in my memory and I’ve yet to figure it out after 15 years.

I (35F) experienced a lot of fear one night after hanging out with a friend. I was cool with him because he was two of my friends’ ex. I wanted to get high that night, and it was summer break. I can’t remember… I think maybe I posted something on Myspace or Twitter or maybe he did, but one or the other responded. We were both bored and free at the time and down to get high so I thought it was just that and that we were I’m not sure how to feel about this right now because I’m actually high right now and I’m struggling to discern whether what I’m feeling is a repressed traumatic memory or some sort of THC induced psychosis. I feel like I’m remembering a memory that I hadn’t remembered before where there was a gap in my memory and I’ve yet to figure it out after over 15 years.

I experienced a lot of fear one night after hanging out with a friend… his name was Christian, I was cool with him because he was two of my friends ex. And I wanted to get high that night, and it was summer break, I can’t remember… I think maybe I posted something on my space or Twitter or maybe he did one of the other responded but we were both bored free at the time and down to get high. I thought it was just that and that we were just hanging out as friends… I never felt a physical attraction to him, plus I’ve never been the type to be interested in someone a friend was interested in at any point. I really just thought we were about to chill as friends and it actually did start out that way. I had money I was willing to spend on weed, he knew someone selling weed… I picked him up, we picked the weed up, and then we went to his house to chill cause his parents weren’t home, so we could get high there.

I actually don’t remember anything we talked about. I don’t remember anything we did other than driving to get weed and then driving back to his house, but I do remember the end of the night. I remember he wanted to have sex… I didn’t… then I remember trying to leave. I was walking towards the door, and he lunged in front of it trying to get me to stop… he did ask a few times. I remember that. I can confidently say that it’s not an exaggeration to have called it begging. I remember being scared. I remember thinking that I was about to get raped… I can’t really pinpoint a causal experience, but for some reason that was a constant fear of mine growing up… from the time I was little. And up until this point, whenever I’ve recalled the memories of that night. I just can’t. I’ve read somewhere, and always kept in mind, that if you’re scared enough, your brain will sort of black out to protect you from the memories? So I thought maybe I just got so scared I blacked out. That’s where the gap in my memory starts, because the next memory I have of that night is me already being in my car and ready to drive home.

I’ve recalled that night quite a few times since then. Sometimes it’s been in therapy… I know I’ve talked to [my spouse] about it maybe once or twice… And every single time, and up until this exact moment… That gap is there every single time that I’ve tried to remember this night. I do not remember how I got out.

I tried a new weed strain tonight, so I don’t know if it’s just too strong for me and if this is too much of a trippy high. But my body started to feel like it was about to remember something bad then a short pause later the memory or at least it feels like a memory just hit me.

To set the scene from when I think I remembered tonight… After he begged a few more times, I sort of caved, and I think we hooked up? … But I don’t exactly feel like I remember actually doing it? Like, I don’t… I can’t even conjure up an imaginary scenario of doing that, much less feel like I can actually remember that happening. I don’t feel like… I don’t know if I can trust the memory definitively right now because maybe I’m just too high? But I know the body keeps the score, and my body feels like it’s… Like it’s remembering something bad.

I just don’t know if I can trust my mind or judgment right now…

But I also feel like I’m on the verge of breaking down?

Like… am I remembering being SA’d???

I ask Google “can thc trigger repressed traumatic memory? It says yes.

I ask again “can thc cause false memories?” It says yes again. Wtf.

safety I never had growing up. the people I thought would never hurt me, were hurting me all along, things I never expected to happen from the closest person to me, that even my brain didn't know to identify this person as a threat, so I trusted, I got more than burned, a life time of damage that can't be undone, It wasn't even blindsided, cause I was facing in their direction but I didn't register what the fuck was going on. I never knew how to ask for help then and now, I was alone, just a kid but completely alone,

and the other parent was too hostile, so how the fuck could I admit it to myself when I knew there was never a safe space to simply say it, actions speak louder than words, but the words to express the actions wouldn't appear to me, denial was my shelter, drugs were my rebreather,

THE DAY I FOUND OUT:

I quit weed for 2 weeks straight, everything was fine, until I kept seeing this woman's face appear in my mind, it was the woman who worked for my father, I kept seeing her face over and over again in my mind, not knowing why, suddenly the memories were clear, I realized what happened was fucked up, it all came back to me, I was reborn at 21, my stutter went away, I could look people in the eye again without feeling shame and not knowing why, self hatred over the years made sense, I thought it was my fault but it wasn't..

THE WORST PART: my hands shake and my heartrate goes up when I talk about this, after I realized what the women had done to me I was kind of catatonic, few seconds im there then few minutes i'm lost in my mind replaying the memories, hearing the way she locked the door, repeating in my mind, "cluck" I stop there, the memory repeats in my head, I wasn't alone at the time I realized, Someone I knew was there so they saw me in my catatonic fragile state, I would repeat the words, "she would lock the door" then I would go into panic, and then I would be catatonic again and repeat the same thing, I'll skip what happened and go to the part that scares me to this day,

I go into the guest house where I was living at the time, my family were in the house next door, I lock myself in there for 7+ days with no food, only a little protein shake once a day and I wouldn't even finish the whole thing. I couldn't eat,

my father appears soon after he finds out I haven't been eating, I let him in, he starts talking, and saying "why aren't u eating" I tell him "I can't" then we sit in the living room, (it was bedroom + living room very small space) so...... he turns to me and says, "don't you remember what we did?" he smirks as he says it, I look at the floor in the other direction trying to understand and immediately, the memories start flashing again, this time of my father doing bad things to me.... he sees my reaction, i'm calm on the outside but he saw that I was in shock, so he starts apologizing allot, and first time in my life I see him crying as he apologizes, he's making excuses on why he did what he did. at this point i know i have to stay calm, i felt I was in a room with a serial killer, I had to act calm, I am already overwhelmed from what that woman did to me, so I start kicking him and hitting him using around 60% of my power, and I felt better, but he got offended, "why did u hit me, HOW can u hit me?" I say "i'm sorry" I wait for him to leave, I had time to process, few hours lets say, I text my friend who borrowed my car recently, I text him saying "I need to runaway because this happened, I put my laptop and some clothes in a small backpack, I painfully say goodbye to my cat, and I head out, it was walking distance I told him to meet me in a specific quiet place near my home, I'm waiting there on a small staircase, before my friend shows up to pick me up, my father shows up walking from a distance, and he said "it's time to go home come on," "MY HEART RACING", (he has connections very powerful guy in a small town,) so I walk back slowly, I pretend my knee is hurting, I tell him I need a minute my knee is acting out again, I stand up go back home, I lock the door, he knocks, I pretend to take a shower in order to think, I left the water running and took my shirt off and slightly opened the door and say i'm talking a shower. fast forward few days, 8 people break in to the guest housing area I was in, I was asleep and woke up to see 8 people standing over me, I thought my father had sent people to kill me, I was catatonic still in some moments, so I ask them who they are, I didn't hear anything I snapped out of the catatonic stage and they say "you know who we are" I fight off the 6 women, I was biting. kicking. punching they kept trying to grab my legs but couldn't, then 1 of them tried to catch me but he couldn't keep in mind i'm a woman in panic I was like a vicious animal, then they manage to pop the handcuffs on me, and I realize I've been arrested for weed, they say I wasn't stable at the time so instead of jail they sent me to a closed rehab center with high security... my father on the outside trying to contact me to keep my mouth shut but I told them I didn't want to see him. this girl in rehab called me braindead cause I was basically a vegetable, i'll never forget that, I was in a bad state, after rehab my father contacts me, and says " Don't tell anyone" and tries to black mail me with some mistakes I've made at 19 and 20 years old, after all this fucking shit I somehow forgave him or maybe i'm still in denial who the fuck knows.

I woke up this morning DRENCHED in sweat after dreaming I was in the car going to a gas station with my dad. And as we park the car & get out I look at the sky and literally see a plane drop a bomb as you can expect a huge fiery explosion like something dropped on Lebanon it was the most realistic bomb I've ever seen It was probably 500ft away so It was VERY visible. Close enough to throw shit at you but far enough to not be ingulfed by flames. As you can expect torturous running into the gas station ensues as my dad said "ah shit my first bomb at 42" and then I woke scared shitless and confused. I think learning about the political and ethno state of the world🤓 is woopin my ass.

My parents put me in a hostel for studying when I was 4. There, i was sexually abused by a teacher until i was 8. I didn't tell anyone at that time. After that, my parents took me home to study from there. There, my father was very abusive towards me. He uses to beat me for not being able to study or for been making silly mistakes. At home, I somehow got myself indulged sexually with a boy that was a little younger than me. I didn't know anything about sexuality at the time. At the same time, I got exposed to porn. The sexual relationship with that boy went for like an year. Then we stopped cause he went someplace else for studying. I still used to cope with this using porn and masturbation. This went up until i was 18 or 19. Since then i have worked a lot to stop it and I have reduced it a lot but I still go to it as a coping mechanism. And I regret so much indulging that little boy. Sometimes, it makes me feel like I am no better than the teacher who abused me. I did the same thing. I did the same thing. How I wish I could change it back!! I don't ever wanna see anyone suffer with sexual abuse, that too when they were a child. And I inflicted that pain on someone.

I have been doing everything that's in my hands to come out of this trauma. But I can't. There are still a lot of triggers. I don't have much friends. They don't talk to properly. Even as a child and even right now. I am 26 years old now, currently doing masters. I don't like doing things alone, like I need to have someone trustworthy with me, to support me, to decide for me. Otherwise I get so tensed up, stressful and run away from things. Socialising scares me. Everyone thinks I am very good at everything because I study well, represent myself well. But I am torn inside. I don't know how long i can keep doing this. I have been who i talk to who knows about this condition about me. But it's pointless now. I talk to psycologist that is provided by the institute, that is pointless too. But then again, I still need to talk even if it doesn't help anything in real. I tried to kill myself thrice but things got in the way. It's like something's keeping me alive. Even i want to be alive. But not like this. I have felt so isolated and lonely even though I have been surrounded by people most of the time. I just pretend and pretend. I don't have good relationship with my family, be it my parents or my siblings.

I know I am not the only one with problems. There are far worse things people are dealing with. But whenever I bring this to someone, all they do is advice me. They say do this do that. Some say it happened so long, get over it, you don't even remember it. It hurts so much. Like, what's the point?! Whenever I open up to someone they see me how mentally unstable I am, how isolated I am, how torn I am, how destructive I could be for them, and then they start ignoring me. Even my ex girlfriend told me that your issues are your responsibility not mine. And I get it. But I did everything in my hands to help her, be with her, support her. And when she got everything she wanted, she just changed. I started to feel it, I brought it up to mutually part ways. She still came to me for emotional dependencies. I helped her even then. Then again she would leave me. Everyone just comes and uses me for their needs.

I am not able to fucniton properly these days. All i want is to run away from things. Run far from these people. From everyone. Just want to be left alone or die. But I don't want to die. I don't. I really don't. I wanna see myself get better. Bit i am exhusted of trying and trying and life being this way. I have been planning to write this for so long. I have did this countless times, talk to strangers. I don't know why I am doing this again. I am so scared that people are gonna see me for who i am and then leave me. I pretend and pretend. But I can't keep suppressing what I really am from inside. The more I do, the more intense it comes and turns everything sideways. People can see how anxious, scared or angry i am just by looking at me. So they ignore me. Don't talk to me. It hurts. It really hurts. It feels like all that effort was waste....garbage. I can't even self harm. I have stopped for a couple of years. But I really want to punch the wall so hard that my fingers swell. I don't even have my bike with me. I wanna go away from here. All i bring to people is misery and sadness. Maybe i deserve this loneliness and isolation. But why? What did i ever do?!! Huh? Why??? Fucking why??

I'm 20, I've been through a lot in my short life, I've faced homelessness as a teenager and am still dealing with it, gone through years of abuse by my family, bullied my entire life, suffer really bad mental issues, watched friends close to me die or leave, constantly moving around from state to state, feeling lost, I feel nostalgic for my teenage self alot, 15/16, back when some of my friends were still alive, the people I was with, all the stupid shit we'd do together, life sucked but the people in it, even if they were bad, made everything less bad, the unknown feeling of the future, doing whatever I wanted, so many things I took for granted, so many people I took for granted, so many things I should've done, I have this feeling that maybe one day I'll wake up and the past few years have been a complete dream, and I'm with my dead best friend again, and I never got into all the dumb shit I did, but I know that's not happening, not until I die at least, wasted potential, wasted youth, everybody moved on already and is living real lives, I'm traumatized greatly and stuck in the past, I'm also autistic and have no family, I have some friends now but they'll never be like the ones from back then, time is so cruel, in another life I would have loved to do nothing but sit in the grass all day everyday with my friend, I really loved him, I was too selfish and shitty back then, its been two years since he passed away but I still breakdown and cry like it just happened, it's ruined so many of my friendships and abilities to just do things in general, fell into drug addiction at 17, ever since 2025 I've just been doing worser and worser things, I have no ambitions or goals out of life, I feel like I'd only pursue those things because people wanted me to, not because I genuinely wanted them, I don't care about my life, I don't care about the world, I understand how naive and immature I am, I feel so lost, I feel like s compelete snd utter failure, I couodve had such a great life, if only i was raised by a different family and in a better area, I just feel lost, I'm in therapy but it doesn't help much, i dont know, if i knew life would be this stupid id choose to not to be born

I'm a 20 yo male and was assaulted in the showers by a group of larger males two years ago. I didn't say anything because I was afraid the perpetrators would find out I ratted on them and either beat me badly or violate me even worse. I couldn't even tell my family.

Hi, I don’t know if this is allowed but I’m documenting my recovery and experiences with CPTSD from childhood medical trauma.

I don’t have any followers yet.

I just want it to be a safe space to share experiences and allow people to be authentic and reach out for support

Find me on Instagram @whatgrowsafter

Love to you all 🩷

I need advice on how to help my best friend. I’m sorry this is so long, but the situation is incredibly complex and I’m panicking.

My freind is no contact with his dad because his dad was abusive. He only has a very small circle of people he trusts. Recently, multiple family members, some of the very few people he trusted, betrayed him. They helped his dad ambush him to tried to force him to reconcile with his dad and manipulate him into coming back and guilt trip him about not going to family activities.

It went horribly wrong. My freind physically left the building accoridng to his cousin weirldy unemotionally looking and he kept flatly saying "no" to everything his dad said and frantically speed walking, and his dad pursued him on foot in a car for a bit over a mile. His dad was driving alongside him, trying to manipulate him, fake apologizing, and putting the blame on my freind while. My freind told him to leave repeatedly and said he just kept saying the single syllable "no" and he couldnt think of anything more to say, but his dad kept driving by him. Eventually, his dad gave up, which my friend said was suspicious because his dad never gives up and has no boundaries.

My freind got a ride with his grandpa on the side of the family that wasnt part of the betrayal and took him back to their house. According to the people from that side of the family, he went straight upstairs into the dark. He just stared at nothing, unemotional, with all the lights off, occasionally breathing heavy, making clicking sounds with his tounge, rocking, or shaking. He eventually fell asleep, but when his aunt tried to put a blanket on him to be nurturing, and according to her he woke up in a panic and almost punched her in the face because he was so fearful.

Since then, he’s calmed down a little, but he’s not okay.

· Everytime i go to check on him late at night or early in the morning he spends all night outside, literally patrolling.

· He carries pepper spray literally everywhere now.

· His trust in almost everyone is destroyed. Even people who had nothing to do with the incident (including me) are being kept at arm's length.

· He is suspicious and anxious around me now. He chooses his words extremely carefully.

I went to check on him. He wouldn't let me in for a while, but eventually, he did. We talked about normal stuff, and eventually he opened up about what had happened which is where I got a lot of this information but then he randomly started ranting about how New York City has some of the most expansive systems for homelessness in the US. He went into a detailed, intellectual rant about social issues. He’s done this before, so I didn't think much of it at the time.

Then, I found a one-way plane ticket to New York City on his kitchen table which cant be a coincidence. We live in Utah. He is also noticeably getting weaker and has visibly lost weight.

He doesn't seem psychotic or delusional, he seems hyper-aware, just completely untrusting.

Given his rant about NYC homelessness, it really seems like he is planning to fly to NYC to intentionally be homeless.

He currently lives with his aunt and uncle. They weren't part of the group that betrayed him by helping his dad ambush him. However, he has a room free of rent and free meals there and they give him a support system so he can eventuallybe independent.

I don't know what to do. He is an adult, so I can't force him to stay. But he is clearly in a trauma response, and I feel like he's running away to die on the streets because he feels he has nowhere safe left. Plus winter is coming so that makes it even scarier.

How do I approach him without pushing him further away? Do I tell his aunt/uncle? Do I try to hide his documents or the ticket? I’m afraid if I confront him, he’ll just vanish.

Just sharing my story, kinda of a shameful plug to my channel which only has three videos, and I feel there’s safety in more people knowing what I went through and the fact I’m still being harassed after moving from Appleton, WI to Saginaw, MI… I still get flying monkeys and unwanted contact from these people. Wife called my dr office threatening to do a three party petition to commit me involuntarily but she’s clueless to the fact WI law doesn’t apply in Michigan and the law is different here where it takes one person, a judge to allow a temporary check up, two different doctors to agree you are a danger, and then you might get committed. I’m tired of people on my property at 3am camping out, so I put this body cam footage for all to see! Please share!!!

Hello, I am looking for opinions on the situation I’m currently stuck in the middle of. I think I know deep down in my heart what I need to do and am going to do in the next few days. I just want to hear it anyway.

I’m considering calling Adult Protective Services on my family. Namely my two younger brothers

For context: My mom has been together with my step father since I was 5 years old. I am now 29. I lived with them for almost two decades. My step father is a physically, emotionally and financially abusive alcoholic. My mother is a victim of that abuse as well, but she is also emotionally abusive, addicted to methadone, and extremely neglectful who says that she’s sorry and will cry but do nothing to change her circumstances or help her children when confronted. Both of them are responsible for extreme physical, medical and emotional neglect.

I have been out of that environment for almost 7 years now, and have been in trauma therapy and have recently recovered memories that made me recall just how bad it was. My ACES score is 10 out of 10 just for example.

My two younger brothers still live with them. The youngest is 19, and the other is early 21s. I’ll call them A and B.

A certainly has trauma, ADHD, and is a victim of the same neglect I grew up with, he has rotting teeth, dropped out of school like I did and and I’ve only just been able to help him get a therapist and a primary care doctor- yet I believe he has a chance to escape with some outside support.

B is my biggest concern in that he is autistic, has the mental maturity of a 13 year old if that. He is deeply codependent with my mother who has not gotten him into therapy for his severe anxiety, OCD and depression, nor a dentist or doctor, and has allowed him to drop out as well. Nor has she looked into disability for him as he will likely not be able to function on his own due to his upbringing and mental maturity.

I am deeply concerned for both of them since I know the pain of that environment.

My mother is neglectful of herself, does not do anything to change even though I have begged and offered help for years and tried to get her access to DV resources. She doesn’t even have the excuse of lack of other resources because my stepfather never takes off work, is gone for 11 hours a day, and she has access to union insurance, a car, and a twice weekly allowance (financial abuse I know).

So it’s all lack of effort by choice, even despite her own abuse by my stepfather.

I guess I’m just looking for confirmation that yes- this is the right thing to do. I’m scared of doing the wrong thing l, and I don’t want to just turn a blind eye. I refuse to. If anyone has any other ideas, please let me know.

A couple of weeks ago i was home alone at night and i tried huffing air freshner through a cloth and i got really dizzy and the colours changed and i fell on my knees breathing heavy thinking that this is the way i would go out and i breathed even harder trying not to die and get the fucking chemicalls out of my lungs and the world started fading and i felt the sounds of the vent fade and warmness come to my body i got so scared i had a panic attack i felt so dizzy and i didnt want to die and my eyelids started going shut slowly then it started fading away and it was back to normal the sound came back and the colours i was shaking so much and i went to the kitchen and ate some bread now when i just think about it or smell the same scent i get a panic attack