Physical violence

Being abducted, kidnapped, or held against your will

Being taken somewhere you did not agree to go, or being kept somewhere you were not free to leave. By a stranger, by someone you knew, by a partner, or by a family member. Whether it lasted hours or years. Including being taken as a child in a custody dispute, being locked in, being driven somewhere against your will, or being held while someone decided what happened to you next.

Losing the ability to leave changes something in a person that is hard to explain to anyone who has not lost it. Your body learned that an exit is not guaranteed, and it has been checking for one ever since. That is not paranoia, it is memory doing its job. Here you will find people who understand why you still count the doors.

What can follow an experience like this

No two people carry the same experience the same way. These are some of the effects that people with this experience often describe. Having some of them, all of them, or none of them says nothing about how real what happened to you was.

Clinging or shutting down in relationships Attachment is the system that governs how we connect with other people, how close we let them get, how we respond when they pull away, how we handle being needed. Emotional numbness Not depression exactly. Depression Not just sadness. Shame or feeling like something is broken in you Not guilt about something you did. Feeling disconnected from your body Not feeling at home in your own body. Trouble letting people in emotionally The wall that goes up when someone tries to get close. Going on the attack before something bad can happen When the nervous system learned that threat was coming, some people learned to meet it head on. Emotions that feel out of control Reactions that feel disproportionate to the situation.

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.

Find a meeting Join the fellowship

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