Rodland wrote:
My online friend who is AS diagnosed has childhood traumas which cause her lots of suffering but she says that she cannot talk anybody about it. She quickly mentioned that it is related to her violent father (also her experiences from the school sound like being negative though I do not know if it has been traumatic as well). She said she does not trust anybody and does not speak to anybody (including professional helpers) about the issue.
I am not sure if it is a good idea to try to help her (because the issue is so sensitive and I could just blow it somehow) and I probably do not dare to raise the issue again but I am still interested to know how people can usually be helped in a situation like this. If a person has no trust to talk even with psychologists, how he or she can find courage to deal with his/her traumas?
I already suggested to this person to talk with cats or imaginary friends in order to practice building trust (I happen to know that traumatized children are sometimes put to communicate with animals. She is adult however).
Just be her friend and don't ask personal questions.
I've known people with ptsd and one complaint I've heard from them is people bother them to know their business. If they don't bring it up, don't talk about it. They probably have enough other people pestering them trying to "help" and would usually rather not be asked about it because all it does is remind them.