Hi all,

I am new here. I'm trying to understand some recent events - in particular why I feel like I'm experiencing a sudden onset of anxiety from a situation that happened over 10 years ago.

Here is a brief synopsis of events: I was assaulted when I was in my early 20s by a man who lived in my house. It was a shared housing situation while I was in college. Through a series of events, I got him kicked out of the house, and I eventually moved out as well to a different place. Because it was such a long and drawn out process and because I was told over and over how I was basically making a mountain out of a molehill (maybe because the assault was physical and not blatantly sexual) I didn't seek the help of a therapist. I reached a point of just wanting to be done with it and away from it.

It took me a long time, but I finally feel like I've been able to enter into healthy relationships with men. Recently, though, I started seeing someone new, and he picked up on the fact that I had been assaulted and asked me about it. I told him a brief synopsis of what happened, and since then (that was 4 days ago), I've found myself experiencing some really severe anxiety. My stomach hurts, I can't sleep, and I can't stop obsessing about that recent conversation. I know I need to talk to him about it again - I brushed it off as 'no big deal' because I didn't know how to talk about it.

All kinds of things have entered into my head - Why am I experiencing this sudden onset of anxiety over 10 years later? I don't really understand where this is coming from. Intellectually, I know I probably need to seek some professional help, but I'm feeling really confused. Not to mention: fears about my new partner - will he look at me as something less than he saw me before - as in someone really emotionally damaged?

Thanks for taking the time to stop and read my post. Any feedback is genuinely appreciated.