As much as I enjoy the companionship of friends, my tendency is to push them away whenever I feel hurt by them. It actually goes like this: Hurt - scared - push away. It's a cycle I'm trying to break by learning to be assertive. I also have some social anxiety which makes it even harder. I find that my world has become very small as I tend to isolate. Does anyone else deal with this and if so, how did you ever get comfortable around people again? From what I've read, correct me if I'm wrong, that exposure therapy doesn't work in complex PTSD. I've always been a very social person up until 6 years ago.