They show up where you work. They text you forty times a day. They create new accounts after you block the old ones. They drive past your home at night. They contact your friends, your family, your coworkers — always with a plausible excuse, always with just enough deniability to make you question whether you are overreacting.

You are not overreacting.

Stalking is one of the most underrecognized forms of interpersonal violence, and its psychological consequences are severe. According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) conducted by the CDC, approximately 1 in 6 women and 1 in 17 men in the United States have experienced stalking at some point in their lives — patterns of behavior that made them feel very fearful or believe that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that 3.4 million Americans aged 16 or older are stalked annually.

Yet stalking remains widely misunderstood. Popular culture often romanticizes persistent pursuit as flattering devotion. Victims frequently minimize their own experiences because the individual behaviors — a text message, a gift, showing up at a public place — seem harmless in isolation. It is only the pattern, the accumulation, the relentlessness that reveals the danger. And by the time that pattern becomes undeniable, the psychological damage is often already significant.

This article examines what stalking actually is, how it affects mental and physical health, how to recognize warning signs, and what evidence-based steps you can take to protect yourself — including how systematic documentation can strengthen both your safety plan and your psychological recovery.

What Qualifies as Stalking? Legal and Clinical Definitions

Stalking is not a single act. It is a pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. This distinction — pattern, not incident — is central to both legal and clinical definitions.

All 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and US territories have anti-stalking laws, though the specific elements vary. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A criminalizes stalking that crosses state lines or uses electronic communication. Most state statutes require:

  • A course of conduct — two or more acts directed at a specific person
  • A credible threat or behavior pattern that causes reasonable fear of harm
  • Intent or knowledge that the behavior would cause fear

The Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC), a program funded by the US Department of Justice, identifies the following as common stalking tactics:

  • Unwanted phone calls, texts, emails, or social media contact
  • Showing up at places where the victim lives, works, or frequents
  • Leaving unwanted gifts or items
  • Monitoring, tracking, or surveilling (including GPS trackers and spyware)
  • Using technology to track location, communications, or online activity
  • Spreading rumors or posting personal information online
  • Damaging property
  • Threats — direct, indirect, or implied
  • Contacting friends, family, coworkers, or neighbors to gather information
  • Filing false reports or legal actions to maintain contact

Critically, none of these behaviors needs to involve physical violence to constitute stalking. The legal threshold is reasonable fear — not actual physical harm. Many victims delay reporting precisely because they have not been physically attacked, not realizing that the pattern of pursuit itself is the crime.

Clinically, stalking is understood as a form of psychological abuse that operates through chronic intimidation and the systematic erosion of the victim's sense of safety, autonomy, and control.

Who Stalks, and Why? Offender Typologies

Understanding stalker motivations is not about generating sympathy for perpetrators — it is about predicting behavior and assessing risk. Research in forensic psychology has produced several classification systems, the most widely cited being the work of Paul Mullen and colleagues published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Their typology identifies five primary categories:

The Rejected Stalker — the most common type, typically an ex-partner who refuses to accept the end of a relationship. Their behavior oscillates between attempts at reconciliation and acts of intimidation or revenge. This group poses the highest risk for violence. A study published in Behavioral Sciences & the Law found that rejected stalkers were significantly more likely to make threats and to escalate to physical assault compared with other types.

The Resentful Stalker — motivated by a perceived grievance. They feel they have been mistreated (by a former employer, a neighbor, a professional) and pursue the target as a form of retaliation. Their stalking often includes verbal abuse, threats, and property damage.

The Intimacy Seeker — pursues a target with whom they desire a relationship, often a stranger or casual acquaintance. They may suffer from delusional disorders, including erotomania (the false belief that the target is in love with them). This group is highly persistent but less likely to be physically violent.

The Incompetent Suitor — seeks a date or short-term relationship but uses methods that are intrusive and inappropriate. They lack social skills and fail to recognize that their attention is unwanted. They are the most likely to desist if confronted with clear consequences.

The Predatory Stalker — stalks as preparation for a physical or sexual assault. They gain satisfaction from surveillance and planning. This type is the rarest but the most dangerous.

A meta-analysis published in Psychology of Violence examined 70 studies and found that approximately 40% of stalkers make explicit threats, and between 25% and 40% engage in physical violence against their targets. The strongest predictor of violence is a prior intimate relationship between the stalker and victim — which accounts for the majority of cases.

The Mental Health Impact of Being Stalked

The psychological toll of stalking is comparable to — and in some ways exceeds — other forms of interpersonal victimization. What makes stalking uniquely destructive is its duration and unpredictability. Unlike a single traumatic event, stalking is a chronic stressor that can persist for months or years, with no clear endpoint. The victim lives in a sustained state of hypervigilance, never knowing when the next intrusion will come.

PTSD and Complex Trauma

Post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the most consistently documented consequences of stalking. A study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence found that approximately 46% of stalking victims met diagnostic criteria for PTSD — a rate comparable to survivors of physical assault and combat veterans. Symptoms include intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, emotional numbing, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle responses, and avoidance of places or situations associated with the stalker.

Because stalking is repetitive and prolonged, many victims develop what clinicians term complex PTSD — a more severe variant characterized by difficulties with emotional regulation, distorted self-perception (shame, guilt, feeling permanently damaged), and disrupted interpersonal functioning. A 2019 study in European Journal of Psychotraumatology specifically linked prolonged stalking victimization to complex PTSD profiles.

Anxiety and Depression

Elevated rates of generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder are well documented in stalking victims. The National Institute of Justice reported that stalking victims are significantly more likely to experience anxiety attacks, depression, and suicidal ideation compared with the general population. A large-scale study in Violence and Victims found that stalking victims were 2.5 times more likely to experience depression and 3 times more likely to report anxiety symptoms than matched controls.

The anxiety is not abstract — it is rooted in real, ongoing threat. Victims describe a pervasive sense of dread: checking mirrors while driving, scanning crowds for a familiar face, flinching at unexpected phone notifications. Over time, this hyperarousal becomes exhausting and contributes to depressive symptoms through a process that psychologists call resource depletion.

Sleep Disruption

Sleep problems are nearly universal among stalking victims. Research published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress found that sleep disturbance was one of the most commonly reported symptoms, with victims describing difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking, nightmares, and a pattern of sleeping in short, fragmented intervals — often because nighttime is when they feel most vulnerable. Chronic sleep deprivation, in turn, worsens anxiety, impairs cognitive function, and weakens immune response.

Social Withdrawal and Isolation

Stalking systematically destroys the victim's social world. Many victims withdraw from friends, family, and community activities — partly to protect others from the stalker, partly because they feel ashamed or believe they will not be believed, and partly because the stalker has succeeded in making public spaces feel unsafe. Research from the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center found that 1 in 8 stalking victims lost time from work, and 1 in 7 moved as a result of being stalked. The economic and social costs compound the psychological damage.

Physical Health Consequences

Chronic psychological stress translates directly into physical symptoms. Studies published in Psychosomatic Medicine have documented elevated cortisol levels, inflammatory markers, cardiovascular strain, gastrointestinal problems, and weakened immune function in populations under chronic interpersonal threat. Stalking victims frequently report headaches, nausea, fatigue, appetite changes, and unexplained pain — the somatic expression of sustained psychological distress.

Cyberstalking: The Digital Dimension

Technology has dramatically expanded the stalker's toolkit. Cyberstalking — using digital technology to monitor, harass, threaten, or control — now features in the majority of stalking cases. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that nearly 70% of stalking victims reported that their stalker used technology, including email, social media, GPS tracking, spyware, and hidden cameras.

Cyberstalking introduces several unique challenges:

Pervasiveness. Unlike physical stalking, which is limited by geography, cyberstalking follows the victim everywhere their phone goes — which is everywhere. There is no safe physical space when harassment arrives through the device in your pocket.

Evidence complexity. Digital communications leave traces, which can be valuable for prosecution. But stalkers also exploit platforms that allow anonymity, use burner accounts, and employ technologies like VPNs that complicate identification. Understanding how to preserve digital evidence is critical.

Spyware and tracking. The National Network to End Domestic Violence has documented widespread use of commercially available spyware (sometimes marketed as "parental monitoring" tools) by stalkers to track victims' locations, read their messages, monitor their calls, and access their cameras. A 2020 study in Violence Against Women found that technology-facilitated abuse was present in over 95% of domestic violence cases, with location tracking being the most common form.

Image-based abuse. The non-consensual distribution of intimate images — often called "revenge porn" — is a particularly devastating form of cyberstalking. Research published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking found that victims of image-based sexual abuse experienced psychological harm comparable to that of contact sexual assault, including PTSD, depression, and suicidality.

Harassment by proxy. Some stalkers mobilize third parties — knowingly or unknowingly — to harass the victim. This can include posting the victim's personal information online (doxing) to incite harassment from strangers, filing false reports, or manipulating mutual acquaintances into providing information about the victim's whereabouts.

Recognizing Warning Signs: The Escalation Pattern

Stalking rarely begins with overt threats. It typically starts with behaviors that seem flattering or merely annoying, then gradually intensifies. Recognizing this escalation pattern early is crucial for safety.

Early Warning Signs

  • Excessive attention at the start of a relationship — overwhelming you with messages, gifts, and compliments (sometimes called "love-bombing")
  • Monitoring your social media obsessively — liking old posts, commenting on everything, knowing details about your life that you did not share directly
  • Appearing uninvited at places you mentioned casually
  • Ignoring boundaries — continuing to contact you after you have asked them to stop
  • Jealousy framed as concern — wanting to know where you are and who you are with, disguised as worry for your safety

Escalation Signs

  • Increased frequency of contact after you set a boundary or pull away
  • Contacting your friends, family, or coworkers to gather information about you
  • Following you physically or digitally
  • Leaving evidence of surveillance — mentioning things they could only know by watching you
  • Threats disguised as expressions of love — "I can't live without you" or "No one will ever love you like I do"
  • Property damage or vandalism

High-Risk Indicators

  • Explicit threats of violence — to you, your loved ones, or themselves
  • Access to weapons
  • History of violence in prior relationships
  • Substance abuse — research published in Criminal Justice and Behavior identifies substance use as a significant escalation factor
  • Violation of protective orders — one of the strongest predictors of future violence

If you are noticing these patterns, trust your instinct. Research from Gavin de Becker's work on threat assessment consistently shows that victims' intuitive fear assessments are more accurate than formal risk instruments in predicting escalation.

Documentation: Your Most Powerful Tool

Systematic documentation serves two essential purposes: it strengthens any future legal action, and it helps you see the pattern clearly — counteracting the gaslighting and self-doubt that stalking often produces.

What to Document

Every incident, no matter how minor it seems. Stalking cases are built on patterns, and individual incidents that seem trivial in isolation become powerful evidence when presented as a timeline. For each incident, record:

  • Date, time, and location
  • What happened — exactly, in factual terms
  • Any witnesses present
  • How it made you feel — this matters legally, as stalking statutes require that the behavior caused reasonable fear
  • Any evidence — screenshots, photos, voicemails, saved messages, security camera footage

How to Document Effectively

Consistency matters more than perfection. The goal is a contemporaneous record — something created at or near the time of each incident, not reconstructed from memory weeks later. Courts give significantly more weight to records made in real time.

A structured journaling habit can be invaluable here. WatchMyHealth's journal feature provides a timestamped, private space to log incidents as they happen — creating exactly the kind of contemporaneous record that strengthens legal cases. Beyond its evidentiary value, the act of writing down what happened also provides psychological benefit. Research on expressive writing, pioneered by James Pennebaker at the University of Texas, has shown that structured journaling about distressing experiences reduces anxiety, improves sleep, and supports emotional processing.

For digital evidence specifically:

  • Screenshot everything — messages, social media posts, call logs, location alerts
  • Save originals — do not just screenshot; save original files where possible, as metadata (timestamps, IP addresses) can be critical
  • Use cloud backup — store copies somewhere the stalker cannot access (not a shared account)
  • Report to platforms — most social media platforms allow you to report harassment, and their internal records can support law enforcement investigations

The Stalking Incident Log

The Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center provides a free stalking incident and behavior log template that is specifically designed for use with law enforcement and prosecutors. It captures the elements that legal professionals need. Using a standardized format from the beginning — rather than trying to organize scattered notes later — can significantly strengthen your case.

Safety Planning: Evidence-Based Strategies

Safety planning for stalking is not about a single dramatic action — it is about systematically reducing vulnerability across multiple dimensions of your life. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) and local victim advocacy organizations can help you develop a personalized safety plan. Below are the core evidence-based components.

Immediate Safety Measures

Tell people. One of the stalker's greatest advantages is secrecy. Inform trusted friends, family members, coworkers, and your employer about the situation. Give them a photo of the stalker and specific instructions: do not share your schedule or location, do not confirm or deny whether you are at a particular place, and report any contact from the stalker immediately.

Vary your routine. Predictability is a stalker's ally. Change your routes to work, alter the times you leave and return home, and vary where you shop, exercise, and socialize. This is burdensome, but it makes physical surveillance significantly harder.

Secure your technology. Change all passwords. Enable two-factor authentication on every account. Check your devices for spyware — the National Network to End Domestic Violence's Safety Net project provides guides for scanning devices. Review app permissions and location-sharing settings. Consider whether a new phone number is necessary.

Review your online presence. Google yourself to see what personal information is publicly available. Remove your address from data broker sites (services like DeleteMe can automate this). Tighten social media privacy settings. Be cautious about posting real-time locations or check-ins.

Legal Options

Protective orders (restraining orders) are available in all US jurisdictions. While not foolproof — a piece of paper cannot physically stop someone — they create legal consequences for continued contact and provide a basis for arrest if violated. Research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law found that civil protection orders were associated with reduced stalking behavior in approximately 70% of cases, though effectiveness varied by stalker type.

Report to law enforcement. Every state has stalking criminal statutes. Filing a police report creates an official record, even if immediate arrest is not possible. Bring your documentation — the incident log, evidence, and timeline. If local officers are unfamiliar with stalking law, the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (https://www.stalkingawareness.org) provides law enforcement training resources.

Consult a victim advocate. Many jurisdictions have victim advocacy programs specifically trained in stalking cases. Advocates can help navigate the legal system, connect you with protective services, and provide emotional support. Contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 for referrals.

Workplace Safety

Stalkers frequently target victims at work because work schedules and locations are predictable. Inform your employer and HR department. Request accommodations if possible — a desk away from windows, escort to your car, screening of deliveries and visitors. Some states have laws that protect stalking victims from employment discrimination related to their victimization.

Tracking Your Mental Health During and After Stalking

Stalking is a marathon of stress, not a sprint. The psychological effects accumulate gradually, and victims often do not realize how significantly their mental health has deteriorated until the situation is well advanced. Systematic self-monitoring can serve as an early warning system.

Why Tracking Matters

When you are in survival mode — the sustained hypervigilance that stalking produces — your baseline shifts. What feels "normal" is actually a state of chronic stress. You may not notice that your sleep has deteriorated, that your anxiety is escalating, that your mood has been steadily declining, or that you have stopped doing things you used to enjoy. Regular self-assessment creates an objective record that cuts through this normalization of distress.

WatchMyHealth's mood and wellbeing tracking tools can serve this purpose well. By logging your mood, stress level, sleep quality, and physical symptoms daily, you build a dataset that reveals trends invisible in the day-to-day fog. If your wellbeing scores show a sustained decline coinciding with escalating stalking behavior, that is clinically meaningful information — useful for your own awareness, for conversations with a therapist, and potentially as evidence of the stalking's impact.

What to Monitor

  • Sleep quality and duration — one of the first indicators of psychological deterioration
  • Anxiety levels — both general anxiety and situational spikes
  • Mood patterns — persistent sadness, irritability, emotional numbness, or loss of interest
  • Physical symptoms — headaches, nausea, appetite changes, fatigue, muscle tension
  • Social behavior — are you withdrawing from people and activities?
  • Substance use — are you using alcohol, medications, or other substances to cope?
  • Hypervigilance markers — difficulty relaxing, exaggerated startle response, constant scanning for threats

This kind of structured symptom logging also creates a record that can be valuable if you pursue a civil claim for damages. The psychological harm caused by stalking is legally compensable in many jurisdictions, and contemporaneous health records strengthen such claims.

Treatment and Recovery: What Works

Recovery from stalking — whether the situation is ongoing or has ended — typically requires professional support. The good news is that several evidence-based treatments have demonstrated effectiveness for stalking-related trauma.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is the most extensively researched treatment for PTSD and anxiety disorders, both of which are common in stalking victims. It works by identifying and modifying distorted thought patterns — for example, the belief that you are permanently unsafe, that the stalking was your fault, or that you are powerless. A meta-analysis in Clinical Psychology Review found large effect sizes for CBT in treating PTSD across various trauma types.

For stalking victims specifically, CBT can address the cognitive distortions that stalkers often deliberately cultivate: the belief that you provoked the stalking, that you should have been able to stop it, or that no one will believe you.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is a trauma-focused therapy recommended by the World Health Organization for PTSD treatment. It involves recalling distressing memories while engaging in bilateral stimulation (typically guided eye movements). Research published in the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research has shown effectiveness for interpersonal trauma, including harassment and stalking-related PTSD. The WHO's PTSD treatment guidelines recommend EMDR alongside CBT as a first-line intervention.

Trauma-Informed Approaches

Because stalking often occurs in the context of other forms of abuse — particularly intimate partner violence — trauma-informed care is essential. This means treatment that recognizes the pervasive impact of trauma, avoids re-traumatization, and prioritizes the survivor's sense of safety and control. Research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has documented the effectiveness of trauma-informed approaches for complex interpersonal victimization.

Peer Support and Group Therapy

Stalking can be profoundly isolating. Group therapy and peer support programs counter this isolation while providing validation and practical advice from others with shared experience. The Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center maintains a list of victim service providers by state. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) can also connect you with local support groups.

Medication

When stalking-related PTSD, anxiety, or depression is severe, medication may be appropriate as an adjunct to therapy. SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are the most commonly prescribed, with sertraline and paroxetine being FDA-approved specifically for PTSD. A psychiatrist can evaluate whether medication is warranted and monitor response over time.

If Someone Tells You They Are Being Stalked

How you respond to a disclosure matters enormously. Research on secondary victimization — the harm caused by negative responses from people the victim turns to for help — shows that dismissive or blaming reactions worsen psychological outcomes significantly.

Believe them. Stalking victims frequently encounter disbelief, minimization ("They're just obsessed with you — take it as a compliment"), or victim-blaming ("What did you do to encourage it?"). These responses are harmful and factually wrong. No one invites or deserves stalking.

Take the fear seriously. If someone tells you they are afraid, the appropriate response is concern, not reassurance that "they probably won't actually do anything." Victims are the best assessors of their own risk. Research published in Trauma, Violence, & Abuse found that victim fear levels are a reliable predictor of stalking escalation.

Offer practical support. Ask what they need. It might be a place to stay, accompaniment to file a police report, help researching protective orders, or simply someone to talk to. Stalking victims often feel that asking for help is burdensome — make it clear that it is not.

Respect their autonomy. Do not take actions on their behalf without their consent — confronting the stalker, for example, can escalate the situation dangerously. Let the victim lead the decision-making. Their sense of control has already been severely undermined; well-meaning but paternalistic help can compound the problem.

Be patient. Stalking situations often drag on for months or years. The victim may need ongoing support, not just a single conversation. Check in regularly.

Stalking and Specific Populations

While stalking can affect anyone, certain populations face elevated risk or unique barriers.

Intimate partner stalking accounts for the majority of cases. The CDC's NISVS found that approximately 66% of female stalking victims and 41% of male stalking victims were stalked by a current or former intimate partner. Stalking frequently co-occurs with physical and sexual violence in these relationships, and it often intensifies at the point of separation — making leaving a dangerous relationship even more dangerous in the short term.

College students experience stalking at elevated rates. A study published in Violence and Victims found that up to 25% of college women reported stalking victimization. The campus environment — with its predictable class schedules, shared social spaces, and communal living — creates particular vulnerability. Many universities now have specific stalking policies and campus-based victim advocacy.

LGBTQ+ individuals face unique stalking dynamics. A stalker may threaten to out the victim, and victims may encounter additional barriers to reporting — including fear of discrimination from law enforcement. Research published in Journal of Interpersonal Violence found that LGBTQ+ individuals experience stalking at rates equal to or higher than the general population, with transgender individuals facing the highest risk.

Male victims are significantly underrepresented in stalking statistics, partly because they are less likely to report and partly because their experiences are more likely to be minimized. The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that men accounted for approximately 30% of stalking victims, yet they were substantially less likely to seek help or report to law enforcement.

What Happens If You Recognize Stalking Behavior in Yourself

This is a section that most articles on stalking omit, but it matters. Some people reading this may recognize their own behavior in the patterns described above — checking someone's social media compulsively, driving past their home, sending messages that go unanswered, rationalizing contact that the other person has asked you to stop.

Recognizing this is the first and most important step. The fact that your feelings are intense — that you miss someone desperately, that you feel the breakup was unjust, that you believe if you could just explain yourself one more time they would understand — does not make the behavior acceptable. Feelings and actions are separate categories. You can feel devastated and still choose not to contact someone who has asked you to stop.

Why It Happens

Research published in Psychiatry Research has identified several psychological factors associated with stalking perpetration:

  • Attachment insecurity — particularly anxious attachment, characterized by intense fear of abandonment and compulsive proximity-seeking
  • Difficulty regulating emotions — an inability to tolerate the distress of rejection without acting on it
  • Cognitive distortions — beliefs such as "they don't really mean it," "they'll realize they made a mistake," or "this is how love works"
  • Narcissistic injury — the ego wound of rejection, particularly in individuals with narcissistic or borderline personality traits
  • Substance use — which lowers inhibitions and impairs judgment about appropriate behavior

What to Do

Stop all contact immediately. This is not negotiable. If someone has told you they do not want to hear from you, any further contact — regardless of your intent — is a violation of their autonomy and potentially a crime.

Seek professional help. Therapy can address the underlying attachment issues, emotional regulation deficits, and cognitive distortions that drive stalking behavior. CBT and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) have both shown effectiveness for these patterns.

Talk to someone you trust. Isolation feeds obsession. Reach out to a friend, family member, or counselor who can provide perspective and accountability.

Remove access. Unfollow, mute, or block the person on all platforms. Delete their phone number. Remove yourself from situations where you might encounter them. The urge to check on them will diminish over time, but only if you stop feeding it.

Accepting that someone does not want a relationship with you — of any kind — is one of the most painful human experiences. But the capacity to tolerate that pain without imposing yourself on another person is a fundamental measure of emotional maturity and respect.

Resources and Crisis Support

If you are being stalked or are in immediate danger, help is available:

  • National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (call) or text START to 88788. Available 24/7. Provides safety planning, referrals, and support for stalking victims.
  • Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC): https://www.stalkingawareness.org — Law enforcement resources, victim services directory, stalking incident log templates, and state-by-state legal information.
  • National Center for Victims of Crime: https://victimsofcrime.org — Legal information, referrals, and advocacy.
  • Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 for crisis support via text message.
  • Safety Net (National Network to End Domestic Violence): https://www.techsafety.org — Technology safety resources for survivors of abuse, including guides for detecting spyware and securing devices.
  • 911: If you are in immediate physical danger.

Stalking is not a misunderstanding. It is not flattery. It is not love. It is a pattern of behavior that causes real harm to real people — psychologically, socially, economically, and physically. Recognizing it clearly, documenting it systematically, and responding with evidence-based strategies gives you the best chance of protecting your safety and rebuilding your wellbeing.

You deserve to feel safe. And you are not overreacting.