It Was Supposed to Get Better

            They said it would go away. They said that, with time, the memory would grow fainter, the nightmares would come way less frequently, and the flashbacks would cease. THEY lied. It’s been 6 months, I still get nightmares, the memory still jumps into my head several times a day, and the flashbacks occur multiple times a day and seem to be getting worse.

Also, talking with a person who was raped over 11 years ago, it doesn’t go away. The nightmares creep back into your nights so your relief from the memories you get bombarded with is no longer able to help you. The sensitivity to dirty jokes, certain movie scenes, and general situational depression turned chronic does not stop. None of these things go away.

A family member of mine was gang raped as a young child. After 4.5 decades, she still has nightmares and problems with it.

This nonsense will never go away.

Why do victims get false hope instilled by the professionals in charge of helping them through it and after it? Now, I don’t think it is on purpose, but it sucks having the hope that we will survive and potentially “get better” when in all reality, we will deal with this for the rest of our lives.