I can remember that feeling BlueMoon described when I was very young. But I think I projected it onto my pets. For example, I had parakeets since I was about 8ish....I'd watch them in their cage, and try to make friends with them. I would cry because they seemed so sad and alone..I'd get to the point where I'd feel so tormented thinking of their pain, I'd set them free in the summer. But I think the pain was in me. I don't know how I know this.

After reading this thread, I'm confused. I can't identify or remember my feelings, anything besides the pets. Having an abusive childhood, and neglected - to the point I felt like an adult since I can remember, I must have some abandonment or rejection issues, but I can't connect them to my current state. How do you have the awareness of abandonment and/or rejection feelings? What brought out your awareness? I feel insightful in that I can identify some of my current dysfunctions with my past, but it's all thought/intellectual. When my Tdoc asks me about feelings, mostly I cannot describe them or even find them. Is it that they are so repressed, that I can't access them?

Deli-I don't want to hijack your thread....but I'm having a hard time with identifying my emotions, and this seems like an appropriate place to ask (Deli-if you don't want me to post this here, I'll delete it). However, maybe in some way it will add to the discussion.