Anonymous Survivor Story: 'I Want Others To Know They Are Not Alone'
Why Do You Want To Tell Your Story? I want others to know they are not alone.
Tell Us Your Story A few months ago during a session with my counsellor, she bought up that she had suspicions that I had been sexually assaulted as a child and a lot of things clicked in my brain.
I have very vague memories, to the point where I know where the abuse happened to me, but not who abused me. Throughout my childhood, I had reoccurring nightmares where this one piece of furniture would loom over me, and fill me with dread and terror. My counsellor and I think that this was likely what I was looking at when I was being abused and that the feelings associated with my assault manifest in my dreams as this piece of furniture.
My counsellor thinks I may have been 3 or 4 when this happened to me, as my memories are so hazy, and I recount the memories like a young child. I have experienced dissociation my whole life, and have been struggling with PTSD for years, after being raped by two different men; once as a 17-year-old, and again as a 19-year-old.
The childhood abuse is still to this day what affects me the most though, as I have no idea who assaulted me. It could have been a family member. It could still be someone I know to this day.
Up until last year, I never thought other people I knew could have been sexually assaulted as children. It seemed like something that only happened on the news, to kids far away and few in between. Until I met a friend who shared his story with me. And that's why I'm sharing mine. Because I want others to know they are not alone.