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I definitely need to learn how to shoot, I did when I was a kid but haven't gone shooting in a long time. Unfortunately, I don't feel safe to actually get armed just because of my own mental health. I do have friends who are armed, though, and they're willing to come help if need be.
May I suggest you take up learning a martial art?
Not sure what they're like in your area, but when I learned Karate as a kid in the 90s/00s, everyone was treated according to their skill level and discipline, gender/sex is irrelevant (beyond cups for guys and thick sports bras for gals).
Its not likely to make you bullet proof, but it does stand a decent chance at bettering your physical and mental health, give you more options when a gun is not part of the scenario.
Also, I would second the notion of going to a range and signing up for basic pistol and rifle familiarization, as well as basic medical training, unless you legitimately are totally terrified of firearms or have some kind of trauma or PTSD related to them.
Such courses usually provide you with firearms for the course, you don't own them or take them home, they stay at the range. You just learn the basic principles of operation and safety and shooting technique, under hopefully an extremely serious couple of range masters who will hopefully teach you to treat all guns as if they are loaded until you have personally verified they are not, and to never, not even accidentally, point the barrel of a gun at something you do not intend to destroy.
You don't need to go buy a gun first and not trust yourself with it.
In fact usually a novice shooter is going to want to experiment a bit with different calibers and guns with differing grip styles and weight distributions untill you find something comfortable to shoot.
Martial arts and guns can give people a false sense of security. Who wants to devote a huge portion of their life to preparing for personalize warfare? LARPers live for that crap. On the other hand, it is wise to have a method of self defense as a normal life plan.
The absolute best defense is avoidance whether getting away or even moving your place of residence. There are many places where people aren't bat-shit crazy.
Forget martial arts if someone has deadly intentions. Get a short shot gun and learn safety and security first. Then learn your firearm very intimately, both how it works and how to use it so well that muscle memory is instinctive. Then, learn how to set a trap where you have the advantage even if you aren't super proficient. Most of all watch this short video.