To preface, i do have some trauma, regarding two separate incidents that happened years ago and years apart, but since the last i have found it difficult to be outside sober without getting very anxious about my safety.
Walking past anyone, the potential of locking eyes or the potential of random people talking to me are things i worry about or become almost fixated on regardless of who they are and who im with. I cant just walk down a street, even busy ones without being hyper vigilant.
Has anyone ever gotten over this kind of anxiety? If so, how?
(Ive been to therapy and I’ve already processed a lot of what happened, but i still get this anxiety when leaving the house or just being outside in the streets)
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Hypervigilance is rough. I’ve been to various types of talk therapy and what has helped the most is somatic therapies - therapy that deals more with the body and processing emotions as they occur physically. People who have been through traumatic events often stifle what they are feeling, to the extent that often it can be difficult to even put a name to the emotion you’re experiencing. I remember early on my therapist would ask me, “And where are you feeling this [pain/anger/sadness] in the body?”
When you’re out and feel this sort of hypervigilance, try and remember that question. It helps rebuild those connections and gets rid of a lot of that floaty, anxious sort of feeling that comes from being ill at ease.