Exploitation

Having your identity, image, or personal information used without your consent

Someone using your name, image, identity, or personal information for their own gain without your consent. Identity theft. Being used in someone else's scam. Your likeness or story taken and profited from.

Having your name, image, or identity used without consent is a strangely disembodying harm. Something that was you went out into the world doing things you never chose. The violation is real even when others treat it as merely a paperwork problem. It reached into who you are, and recovery from it deserves room.

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. Anxiety The background hum of dread that is always there. Identity disturbance Not being able to answer simple questions about yourself. Insomnia Difficulty falling asleep. Depression Not just sadness. Shame Not guilt about something you did. Social withdrawal 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.

Find a meeting Join the fellowship

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