dating someone new …. when do I tell him about the ptsd diagnosis? (TW: CSA and SA)
basically title. i (21f) started dating a new guy (23m), it’s been a really nice but foreign experience for me.
im diagnosed with ptsd from CSA that occurred from ages 9-13. unfortunately I dated a guy from 15-18 who was really abusive and SA’ed me a few times as well. I’ve dated 1 guy since then, he wasn’t abusive but i found that my dissociative tendencies were a huge problem in our relationship especially as it pertains to sex (sometimes i would dissociate during sex, and we were really emotionally disconnected aside from that).
now… it’s crazy bc this whole time i thought i was asexual, but i thought the guy im dating now was attractive so i hit him up. it turns out he is also just so incredibly sweet, caring, and just really friendly to everyone around him. we seem like we’re a lot alike and I feel so happy whenever im around him.
i guess im a bit worried because while ive done a lot of healing since my last relationship, I still wonder if my dissociative tendencies might be an issue :( im in a weird spot bc I don’t want to jump into anything but also don’t want to avoid my feelings because of my past as well. the bright side —- i’ve never felt particularly triggered around him, i feel pretty safe with him actually
does anyone else have wisdom on how they navigated this? me and him aren’t official yet but have been seeing each other for about a month and a half, so I think it’s heading that way potentially soon. i don’t want to put him in an uncomfortable situation in not knowing about my ptsd before dating, but also don’t want to talk too much about my experiences just yet. idk…….