When I began parenting my step-daughter one of the first things I realized about her was that she was often ruled by fear. I tried my best to listen to her and help her but the bottom line was that she was so anxious she would start thinking about something and it would bloom into something truly scary in her mind.

I've helped my step-daughter with some things that she needed help with but I really haven't been able to change her mind about these fears of hers.

She fears cancer (she is only 29 but HELLO, her Mom died of cancer). She is afraid of the dark, of being sexually assaulted in her room at night, and more.

It is interesting to me that she is an addict, in recovery, who used to take literal handfuls of pills to get high. This is something that could easily have killed her but she wasn't ever afraid of it.

What I've realized about her is that she needs (truly needs) some sort of therapy. I've read books and articles about what kind of therapy might work well for her. Since she experienced the trauma of her mother's cancer and death from age 7- 12, I think she would probably benefit from EMDR. It sounds flaky but reading deeper into it I see how it might help the brain re-direct the trauma so that she can cope with it.

I want nothing more for her than she just have every happy moment due to her without this wicked anxiety that often rules her.

Maybe this might be of interest to you? I can't get my step-daughter to give it a try. She's an adult now and it has to be her decision.

As for the toxic characters here on Medium and social media, I have a feeling they are probably as transparent to a majority of people as Donald Trump. He has his kooky supporters and so do these misogynists.