Fear of being attacked

[sinnergalore]

I was raped 3 years ago. Recovery has taken a while due to the fact that I refused to deal with it for so long. About a year after the attack, I started having nightmares. I still get them, and they're always about being attacked in some way or another. Now they're not as frequent, which is very nice. I'm able to talk and think about the attack without having a panic attack or crying. I've made real progress within the last year. However, the last couple of months something new has started...

I have found that I'm terrified of being in my apartment. Its been about 3 months now. I feel like someone is going to break in and attack me. I also feel like I'm going to be attacked at work as well. I'm a private duty night nurse, so I'm awake all night alone. I don't know how to overcome this...

Any suggestions?

 

[PilgrimToChrist]

I never reported what happened, I never went to therapy, I barely talked to my friends and family about it. These are probably things that made it harder to recover.

Definitely I was freaked out for six months to a year. I already had a history of panic attacks so this certainly didn't help. I felt I couldn't trust any man, even ones who I was already friends with. You work nights and that must be hard. After my friend was almost assaulted by her friend's dealer, she started carrying a can of pepper spray in a holster on her messenger bag and that made her feel safer, even though she's never had to use it. I haven't bought any but it's definitely an idea.

This all happened before I became a Christian so I guess I didn't have the same recourse that I do now. You have to remember to lean on God, that no matter what happens in this life, you are still in His loving arms I wear a Rosary around my neck (under my shirt), that not only provides incentive and opportunity to pray during the day but it is a constant reminder of God's love and the yoke of Christ -- that I belong to Him. No matter what anyone does to us, we are still safe. No man, not even a demon, has any real power over us.

And I say to you, my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.