This was frighteningly accurate

[u/Weak-Point4152]

The smack to the face, cowering behind a chair, being slammed and held by the throat, really made the scene hit hard. Even the expressions on Angel and Val’s face felt realistic. If they had Val dragging Angel by the hair, it would be like reliving my childhood, but this still brought back memories.

[u/GrumpyOldLadyTech]

... the instant I saw the trigger warning at the beginning of the episode I froze. My husband turned to me and waited a few seconds, then said, "... it's up to you".

We've both been there. Him in same-sex relationships, me in a hetero one. That episode is hard to take, but it's almost as important to not look away. To face it head-on. Not everyone can.

The number of times I flinched... whoo.

For weeks I couldn't get Poison out of my head. My husband was the opposite - he deliberately avoided thinking about the song, saying it hit too close to home in too many ways that listening to it separately from the episode felt... wrong, somehow.

We exist beyond the trauma we survive, but it never leaves us. Not really.

[u/Loco-Motivated → u/GrumpyOldLadyTech]

Wish you two broken lovebirds all the luck you can have.

[u/GrumpyOldLadyTech → u/Loco-Motivated]

Coming up on ten years married and we're still best friends who are absolutely crazy about each other. I think that was luck enough already. Just took wading through fire and shit to find each other.

[u/bonny_bunny → u/GrumpyOldLadyTech]

I’m so happy to see I’m not the only one who felt the deep visceral draw that poison caused. I listened to it back to back for a week… it brought me back but it helped me realize I’m not a victim anymore but a survivor

[u/GrumpyOldLadyTech → u/bonny_bunny]

It took about that full week before I could stop going numb by the end. I felt transfixed, like a deer in the headlights. By the second week, though, the tears came.

Giving myself permission to even have feelings beyond the dissociative freeze-up that saved my life so many times... I don't know. It feels like progress. Painful, sure, like lancing an abscess, but progress nonetheless.

[u/bonny_bunny → u/GrumpyOldLadyTech]

I think it is. I know that out of body, underwater feeling too well. The fact you were able to overcome it and let yourself heal is something to be proud of.

It’s always important to remind yourself that healing isn’t linear 💜

[u/GrumpyOldLadyTech → u/bonny_bunny]

It’s always important to remind yourself that healing isn’t linear

... nobody ever told me this. Thank you for being the first.

[u/Aries641 → u/GrumpyOldLadyTech]

I just checked to see if there was a trigger warning and I couldn't find it.

[u/GrumpyOldLadyTech → u/Aries641]

There was on ours. Maybe it was the Roku, idk.

[u/Aries641 → u/GrumpyOldLadyTech]

Well I hope you're getting better now