An effect of trauma
Survivor's guilt
A persistent sense that you should not have survived, or should have done more, or that your survival came at someone else's expense. Or guilt about the things you did, or did not do, to get through. Survival is not clean, and this effect carries the weight of that.
Guilt about surviving runs on a quiet, false idea, that your life was purchased at someone else's expense and owes a debt. Survival is not a transaction. What you did to get through belongs to the situation you were in, not to your character, and the people here understand the difference from the inside.
It can sound like
If any of those sentences live in your head too, you are in good company here.
Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.
You do not have to carry this alone.
Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.