I often found that talking about the hard stuff with my T, that closed loop going on in my head was broken so that the reinforcement of what I thought I knew, felt, experienced, etc. stopped and I was able to get a "larger" view of things.

When we're children, we only have X number of years experience and so there's not much total and any "bad" experiences take up a much larger place in our psyche. I think of it kind of like how "fast" time goes the older you get; when you are 5, each summer is 1/5th of your summer experience but when you're 50, summer is 1/50th.

Also, the experience is static, as a experience I have at 7-8 say, doesn't "grow" with me even though I get older. Too, an "abnormal" experience like sexual abuse can't really get corrected as a child because it shouldn't be there in the first place so "better" experiences can't dilute it (like having a bad summer experience and then 20 good ones might). One's 7-8 year old self/memories get locked in.

Talking to someone one trusts and who listens and responds well can unlock that hold the memories may have on us.