Hello Men,

This is my first post. I just joined the forum. I am a 50 year old man and I am a suvivor of sexual physical abuse from the hands of my parents. For 12 years I was sexually and physically abused by them. I have been in counseling off and on for 10 years and a new issue has come to the surface. I have been diagnosed with PTSD. I am wondering if there is anyone who has similar issues. I have read a little a bit about it the other day. I believe my mind is ready now to approach this situation and I'm ready to learn how I can deal with this issue. I have touch fobia with females. It is affecting my marriage now and would like to talk to others who have gone through any healing processes and can give me any insights to this issue. Thank you in advance for any ideas through this forum.

Kindest regards,

The Butler

Butler,

Welcome to MaleSurvivor. You are in the right place.

There are a lot of survivors who suffer from PTSD and are never diagnosed. The best thing to do in my opinion would be to find a counselor who is experienced with sexual abuse survivors. Others will give you more advice, but that is a place to start.

There is another treatment that you may hear about: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). It has been successful in a lot of cases. Look it up on the web and research it yourself. If you can find a good T who uses EMDR, then I think it will help.

Take care,
D2K

Post deleted by ttoon

Randy , I was diagnoised with PTSD about 7 years ago . I do understand what you are talking about . I do not like to be touched by any one . I also have issues with going into any where that there are a lot of people . I do not even go to Family gatherings .
I have Agoraphobia ( The fear of leaving firmilier surondings)
I wish that I had some easy aunsers to give you . But PTSD Is a Bitch to live with . and will destroy your personal life. You just have to force your self to do what is nessary for life .

Hi Randy,

Welcome to this site. I hope that you will find it to be helpful.

One of my diagnoses is chronic PTSD. I was diagnosed with it 3 1/2 years ago. It is absolutely terrible and has prevented me from moving along with my recovery. I could go into detail with my experience with it, but I will spare you that. The only rest that I get from it is to avoid it at this point. Although several years of therapy has made it a little bit better.

As far as the touch goes, it's like all of us here share the same soul. So many of us have problems with being touched. I know the feeling well, where you space out temporarily when you know the touch is coming. The only thing that has helped is therapy... reliving those overwhelming experiences.

I think that I became a bit more desensitized when, through therapy, I began to realize, and, especially, feel, that I am a member of this world. I share this planet with everyone else here and that I have the right to be me. This made me feel like not everyone who touches me is going to have access to my soul and not hurt me. It gave me some self-confidence that I have never had, which made it all right to shake hands with another man. I'm still not really good at it, but I'm a little better.

I hope some of this makes sense and helps. It's all about feelings and who can adequately describe a feeling?

God bless,
John, The Music Man.