Emotional and psychological harm

Being emotionally bullied, excluded, or targeted by peers

Being deliberately excluded, mocked, or targeted by peers in ways that were sustained and damaging. Social cruelty. Being made the outsider on purpose. The particular loneliness of being surrounded by people who have decided you do not belong.

Being deliberately cast out by peers during the years when belonging matters most leaves a wound adults consistently underestimated. The lesson it taught, that groups are dangerous and you do not fit in them, can follow you into every workplace and friendship since. That lesson was about them, not about you, and it can be unlearned in a group that chooses you back.

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.

Hypervigilance The nervous system that learned to scan for danger all the time. Trust issues Trust that was broken, repeatedly, by people who were supposed to be safe. Depression Not just sadness. Shame Not guilt about something you did. Anxiety The background hum of dread that is always there. Social withdrawal A retreat inward that can feel like protection, and often is. Loneliness This is different from pulling away. C-PTSD When trauma happened repeatedly, over a long time, or at the hands of people who were supposed to care for you, the effects go deeper than a single event.

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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