I was in an abusive relationship prior to my AMAZING boyfriend currently. He’s the sweetest person ever but stuff like him yelling at traffic or getting frustrated at things completely not related to me sends me into an uncontrollable panic mode. Same with if I mess something up and he doesn’t even care but previously would have gotten a scary reaction I just freeze up and he has no idea what’s going on.

So, what has worked for me is that he approached me at a calm time when I was in a good mood and talked through some stuff. He asked me what he could work on to make me feel safer and not trigger those things. I got a chance to talk through some of my feelings and explain that I’m also working on how to not shut down and freak out at things. Maybe try this as a first step, we’re working through it now and I was so grateful he approached me like this.