Stalker/Distrust of Men
When I was 15 (I'm currently 22), I was followed by a man in a car while taking a walk in my neighborhood. He followed me on and off for 2 years (circling my house, waiting in alley's, etc). During that time I was very vocal with my parents about what was happening, but they didn't really help. I think because they didn't know how to handle the situation, they pretended I was over-reacting.
One month after the last time I saw my stalker, a girl my height, hair color, and body type went missing blocks from where this man followed me. Only then was I permitted to speak to authorities.Noth ing came of it, but my stalker never returned.
During that time I started having panic attacks. I saw him everywhere and had a hardtime leaving my home. I would panic when left alone or having to walk on the street. I have since been able to over come some of these triggers, but I still feel an extreme discomfort about being out in the open by myself, and strange men that approach me. It's a constant physical anxiety that plauges my day to day life. Part of me hopes I never recover because I never want to be vunerable to that kind of danger.
I take medicine, I do all the anxiety treatments (exercise, diet, etc), but I can't get past this. There's no one to talk to about this. My parents want to pretend it didn't happen, and my friends think it's too heavy. I'd go to therapy, but I live too far away from any professional that isn't religious.
I'm sorry to hear about what happend to you. I think your mistrust of men is completely justified. Your parents and family should have been more supportive of your thoughts and trusted you more. I hope you're finally starting to feel at peace, or at least on the right track. Good luck!
I am sorry you feel this way. I know it can be difficult to go through life distrusting men even with a legitimate reason. Some people just can't wrap their head around that type of trauma nor are they sympathetic because they have this belief that you should just "get over it" which is both not helpful and unrealistic. I am not quite sure what you are looking for: proper therapy or something else entirely, but you have grown so much in the 7 years since the incident which is fantastic especially with such terrifying triggers! I don't know what you have done in the past to help with anxiety, but having friend's who can simply accept this as something that is a part of you can really aid in recovery. Sure, they may not know what advice to give you, but you could have a safety plan with them if you ever feel unsafe so that they won't question anything, but merely remove you from the situation. This may seem impossible to say to your friends. I don't know them after all. There could be online support groups and if you're in a college town they have escorts to and from locations to keep you safe at night. I don't know if any of that helped. I'm just throwing out some options.