9 Ways Survivors Gaslight Themselves After the Abuse Ends

You learned their tricks too well.

When you finally escape an abuser, everyone expects you to celebrate.
They think you’ll feel free.
They imagine you dancing around your apartment, grateful to have survived.

But that’s not how it works.
You don’t feel free. You feel haunted.
You feel like you’ve been dropped in a quiet room that suddenly got too loud.
Your heart keeps racing even though the t…