Unable to move on

I once dated a girl who was very manipulative. Since I broke up with her(its been many years) I have been unable to really move on. The times when I have it was cut off very early or I was in a relationship where I completely hid my emotions. Lately she has been coming back into my life more and more and everytime she leaves me feeling the same way she did. The closest I have come in about a year to talking with anyone else is by signing up for a dating app messaging two to three people and then never checking it again. Is there any way for me to be able to resume having a “normal” dating experience? Or am I stuck not being able to move on?

Hello 7531: From my perspective, if this woman is repeatedly coming back into your life (& with the same undesirable outcomes) I think one would have to wonder why it is you keep allowing her to do so? It's like the old saying: "If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you always got." Before you can move on to having a "normal" dating experience, I would suggest that you need to figure out what it is that is causing you to keep going back down the same unhappy path over-&-over. This is what individual therapy is for. No, I don't believe you're stuck not being able to move on. But you need to take positive steps to figure out what's going on

I think you need to put in mind that one bad experience doesn't mean that you will have bad experiences with all girls. Our mind in biased toward negativity, and thus, I think you need to use counter argument deliberately to move on. And of course, if this girl hasn't changed, and still causes you pain, probably it's wise to cut her from your life. Good luck