Emotional and psychological harm

Being manipulated or controlled by someone who twisted reality

Someone who consistently made you question what you saw, heard, felt, or remembered. Who told you things did not happen the way you knew they did. Who made you feel like you were losing your mind. Who was so convincing you started to believe them.

Someone who rewrites your reality attacks the one tool you need to escape them, your own judgment. Coming out of that fog, survivors often trust everyone's account except their own. Rebuilding faith in your own memory and perception is slow, careful work, and being believed without argument is where it starts.

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. 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. Trust issues Trust that was broken, repeatedly, by people who were supposed to be safe. Anxiety The background hum of dread that is always there. Identity disturbance Not being able to answer simple questions about yourself. Loss of meaning The questions that will not resolve. Self-abandonment When you grew up learning that your needs were inconvenient, dangerous, or simply irrelevant, you stopped tracking them. Not trusting your own memory Second guessing what you remember.

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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