It comes back

I've been going to EMDR therapy for a while...almost a year now, and the flashbacks became less frequent, the nightmares less scary and my anxiety seemed to had gone down. But then I got asked out. After a second date a girl I had been seeing asked me out. And it brought back everything. Every feeling of being afraid. Every feeling of being inadequate. That clench in my stomach, that fear in my heart. And I think about all the what ifs. What is it happens again? What if I let my guard down? What id she's not who she says she is? Then, she starts to scare me by sending me really corny love notes, like I'm already her girlfriend...And then the world stops. Because she has something to tell me, and that something is that she has PTSD. And I told her we have that in common. Maybe that makes her less scary. But I'm still overwhelmed.

Hello em3476: Thank you for sharing your struggle. I see this is just your second post here on PsychCentral. I hope you will find the time you spend here to be of benefit.

(((hugs)))

The core of PTSD is "fear" and the only way you can make gains on it is to be aware of it and then make the efforts to keep trying inspite of it. I know it's a challenge as I struggle with that myself. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that this girl has PTSD also as she may be more understanding about how you may struggle to trust and need to move forward slowly.