I can totally relate to this! During EMDR, a whole bunch of crap came out about my childhood. A time that my brain had mostly blocked out. Then T was discussing the effects of neglect, abandonment, and abuse at the hands of my parents - two people that i just wanted to love me.... This has been very hard to deal with, denial seemed much simpler but actually did keave me with too much self doubt. I was taking responsibility for things that happened when i was a young child. I have carried around guilt and felling like i was a bad person for many years because I felt responsible for how things played out. Dealing with reality is helping me put my earlier, bad childhood in perspective. I was a little girl, my mother didnt neglect me because i was bad or because i was unloveable. No amount of overachieving to the point of mental collapse will change that past and mom is never going to do a 180• and say "hey, i am really proud of you and i love you."

The labels do confuse and hurt, but facing the truth can also help you become a happier, freer adult. (That is how this all better turn out... because right now therapy is hard as sh#%^!! And PTSD has stopped my normal life dead in it's tracks....)