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How to bring up potential CSA to a therapist?
SupremeMemeMachine November 12th, 2022
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Hi, hoping anyone here might have experience with this.

So I was sexually assaulted by my ex girlfriend. I dissociated during it and only remember bits and pieces. Recently I was at a concert and got groped by a woman over twice my age and even though the people around me defended me and got them away from me, I still had nightmares and it brought back a lot of bad memories. I thought it would just be about my ex girlfriend (that happened a little over a year ago), but I started having nightmares about all of the times I've been harassed, my old job, and my childhood, too. And I started connecting little dots of things that I did and thought and said that I thought as a really little kid that were a bit suspicious. A lot of them make me wonder if I was assaulted as a child.

I don't know how to present this case to a therapist/psychiatrist though, and despite having an appointment scheduled, I'm just worried they're going to dismiss me as hysterical or making stuff up. That's what I'm worried about, honestly: that I'm just making this all up and I've invented some horrible trauma to justify my actions/why I am the way that I am.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks for reading all the way through this.

4
blitheSun94 November 14th, 2022
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Hello, Supreme,


I think you bring up a really important point about women being perpetrators, too. I’m so glad to hear you have an appointment scheduled. I hope you feel comfortable enough to be open about your experience. A competent physician will properly evaluate you without gaslighting your self reporting, although what you describe is a very common fear. I’m very sorry these things have happened to you.


What do you hope to accomplish at your appointment?


Be well!

Cyberus01 December 16th, 2022
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Hello,


im sorry to say I can’t say how to broach the subject as I always have locked up when it comes to talking about abither person like face to face about that happened because real talk it’s a ducking complicated topic for this man.


I wanted to say that you are not alone with that difficulty. If I could help you with taking about it I would but I can’t, your just not alone


adventurousBranch3786 December 16th, 2022
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@SupremeMemeMachine

I try to remember that if a doctor or therapist is dismissive that I don’t have to see them again. I can look for another doctor or therapist that is responsive. I also do some deep breathing before an appointment to try and calm myself down. I hope that you find something that helps.

Mikitea68 December 17th, 2022
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So you're talking to someone with Synesthesia and many types of it too. I can remember being 6 months old because of Synesthesia. That being said I have a good memory and I remember all my sexual abuses in detail. But in your case you maybe remembering something but not allowing all your senses to be stimulated in that memory. Can you smell something? Can you taste something? Can you feel something in those memories? I would start there about that.



As far as being honest with a therapist, I would say they should believe you. If they question you to an uncomfortable place then tell them they need to be a better researched therapist. Ask for your money back and try someone who specializes in sexual assaults.


I am so sorry you went through that though. I will say if you decide to report those abuses you're brave, if you don't report them you're still brave too. You deserve a sense of justice for what you went through. But most importantly you deserve to heal.

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