Emotional and psychological harm

Being stalked, followed, or relentlessly pursued

Someone who would not stop. Showing up where you were, watching your home or work, tracking your phone or car, sending message after message, contacting your family and friends, or making sure you knew they knew where you were. By an ex, an acquaintance, a coworker, or a stranger. Including the long stretches where nothing happened and you were waiting for it to start again.

Stalking works by never quite ending, which is why the quiet periods are their own kind of harm. Living pre braced for the next contact is exhausting in a way that is hard to describe to people who have not lived it. The people here know exactly why you check the window.

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.

Complex or ongoing trauma and its effects 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. Emotional numbness Not depression exactly. Depression Not just sadness. Freezing up or going blank when things get intense When the nervous system learned that neither fighting nor fleeing was possible, some people learned to go still. Brain fog, memory gaps, or trouble concentrating Trauma affects the brain in measurable ways. 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. Staying busy or moving because stillness feels unsafe When the nervous system learned that staying was dangerous, some people learned to keep moving. Withdrawing and isolating from people A retreat inward that can feel like protection, and often is.

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.

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