I know you don’t mean anything by this comment, but as a grown woman in the field of psychology, I will say that I have a deep understanding of anxiety, my diagnoses, and the situation. I am not a child scared of the dark and was not putting my friend in a position where he had to comfort me or confront my fears for me – it was an academic conversation about what anxiety was like in my past, before treatment.
I will also mention that he was a social climber who did not have good intentions, which I did not realize for years. He exploited me and many others. I don’t know anyone who will associate with him anymore.
I think it’s great that you want to believe the best of the situation. I just wanted to clarify that it’s not the case here :/