I was struggling earlier this year bad with anxiety around I

Addiction & Recovery Substance Abuse
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I was struggling earlier this year bad with anxiety around I thought men who I thought were just interested in me. Today went to dog park and saw group of guys... I thought to not even go into the dog park... that’s how bad my anxiety... I went but didn’t stay long. I felt so uncomfortable and anxious. I feel like I need to go back to therapy. This makes me feel like such a loser like I will never be normal.... has anyone else had problems like this after abuse?

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I'm not sure what you mean. ARe you saying you have anxiety around men who you think are interested in you? Or are you afraid they wont be interested in you?

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No I think I just have anxiety around men in general post abusive ex narcissist

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@Foundlove I understand what you 're talking about now. Yes, I have the same issue. If I am remotely attracted to a guy, I don’t know how to handle it anymore. I can’t handle myself. I get so insecure and nervous. I deep down feel like they wouldn’t REALLY be interested in ME as person, or creating a real relationship with me. I over think about something that hasn’t even happened and just live in fear. I don’t talk to me, I don’t go on dates. I literally just stay away from all of it. I don’t know how to approach dating. I don’t know how to even start. Even if I was able to go through a conversation, I wouldn’t be able to believe that anything real could come out of it.

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I had some anxiety in regards to women when I was first post narcissist. I had been conned before and I wasn't very trusting of women. It was actually the women in this group that helped me to understand that it wasn't women in general but rather the ones I chose to associate with. I went to work on myself addressing my childhood insecurity, trying to get to a point where I wasn't attracted to certain types of people. For me I was vulnerable to the wounded duck routine. I also worked at establishing firm boundaries so that I wasn't attractive to these same personality types. It's all a process that takes time and sometimes a lot of work to where we feel comfortable with certain types of people again.

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@Ducktape I’m more comfortable around women… I’ve had bad experiences with men in my past. I feel like In general my whole life I’ve had social anxiety worse towards men… but I feel like maybe could be worse now. I will keep trying to be around groups of men and group of people. I think that’s what I have to do in order to overcome that.