(((bitten)),

I can have that happen myself, what helped me was listening to my T talk about sexual abuse overall, then I was able to say "me too" without having to come forward myself and talk about it. When I joined PC I would visit the abuse forum and just read sometimes, I could not put myself there at all really for a while.

I seem to be able to work things out by defending others, helping others, I did that alot and would slowly try to add myself in here and there. Sometimes when we hear the cry of others it can touch that hurt spot in ourselves and we can empathize reach out and in the process also tell ourselves these caring messages at the same time.

Therapy is not about forcing yourself to remember or even having to verbalize the graffics of a sexual abuse situation. It is more about how that hurt you and how you can work on healing the hurt itself.

Disassociation is not always a bad thing, it is our brain's way of protecting itself in a tramatic situation.

If you experience flashbacks, then just address whatever it is you experience. You don't have to verbalize every detail either. Some trama doesn't actually get stored in areas of our brain that contains language.

((Caring Hugs))

Be patient with self

OE