Oh wow, I can imagine how hard it must be if the question "tell me about yourself" is a trigger. I can see how hard that would make it to get in conversations with people!

Do people really say that often? (It does seem really general?) Or do any "getting to know you questions" trigger you?

I think the key is... when people ask that, maybe try to substitute in your head another question. Like.. they really don't want to know *everything* about you, they're just looking for some point of commonality to start a conversation. So, maybe have a couple of brief prepared answers, and then practice turning the conversation back to them...

Like this:

Maybe you meet someone in a class...
A: Tell me about yourself?
B: Well, I'm really excited to be in this class! I've wanted to take a class like this for ages, but was a bit nervous... and now I'm so glad that I took the chance! How about you?

re: Personal questions that you don't want to answer, it's perfectly ok to be vague and non-committal (and as much as I hate to say it, sometimes to tell little white lies... for example, my brother is actually in jail. That's not something I'd tell people when I first meet them! If they asked about siblings, I usually just mention my sister... and then ask them about their family. If they ask if it's just me and my sister, I might say, "I've got a younger brother, but we're not that close."

I've found that most sane, normal people can pick up on it when you subtly steer the conversation away from something like your family, and won't poke - they are trying to be friendly and amiable! If they DO go in like a shark after things that are painful, or can't respect your boundaries, then they're really not worth having as friends... because they're going to be like this with everything. I don't know, I don't want pushy people like that as friends, anyway... I want people that respect boundaries!

And... are you working with a therapist on learning to stand up to people and enforce your boundaries? This seems like the type of thing a therapist could be very helpful with... and could save you a lot of future pain.

*good luck*