[Amandasmom]

Hi, I don't have many friends. Really only one good friend and unfortunately she lives in another state but we talk every day.

No one except my T knows about my CSA. I have no one to talk to about it. My T don't like contact outside sessions unless you are "in distress". I won't join a group therapy as I have Social Phobia and can never talk about it to strangers.

Have you told any friend about your CSA? Do you regret it? How did it go?

I will discuss this with my T next session.

Thanks!

In the past I have told two long-distance friends about the abuse I went through. After I shared that information, both of them shared that they too had experienced similar events in their childhood.

The only friend I told in person was a cousin of mine. It turned out that his wife and his wife's best friend (who lived with them) had also been abused in their younger years.

I believe it's far more common than we tend to think it is.

I don't regret telling any of them about it, and they didn't treat me any differently after. I didn't go that much into it though, and didn't mention it again after that. If I had sought to use them as support for it than things may have gone differently, but the only reason I told them was because I needed to explain my anxiety/phobias. I had lost a good friend in the years prior because I hadn't been willing to speak up and explain it.

[Stronger]

I found that, for some reason, it's has been easier to tell my friends who didn't know me during that age. I don't know why.
Like you, I don't have many friends. I'm shy and awkward. But the one friend that I have told took it pretty well. The biggest reason that I had for telling, was because of the panic attacks I was getting. I needed someone to know why the panic attack was really happening. Even if that person wasn't there during an attack, it's still nice to know that you're not alone. That someone is here for you.