YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

okay so I don’t even know where to begin with this
but I hope me being open will maybe help someone.

I am a CSA survivor and my dad was my abuser,
so nighttime is a super hard time for me. Recently
I spent the night with a friend and in my sleep I was
masturbating at exactly 3 in the morning.
Luckily she was aware of the trauma but I feel so much
shame that I put her through that. When I do masturbate
it seems to be at exactly around the same time give or take
an hour. Also I had been doing this but I thought it stopped and I thought it was normal. Now I’m questioning if it happens every night???
Like why did no one tell me!!? And like I feel like such
a freak for doing that and I don’t understand why I am.
And I’m dating someone and I have no idea how to bring this up so please someone help

Thank you for any advice

You are not a freak and you have nothing to be ashamed of. Your mind and body are just traversing an impossible situation. The important thing is that you are a survivor.

Please know that you are seen and accepted. And you can accept yourself.

All the best. Keep the lines of communication open. Please take care.

Hello Angelhearmycry,

Like Manny said.

And

And I’m dating someone, and I have no idea how to bring this up so please someone help

You're under no real obligation to discuss this with a date, are you?
Maybe with a long-term partner, but....