Newfie, that is something most people do, they don't talk about these challenges. There has been this long standing saying, "don't air your dirty laundry" that discouraged people from talking, even asking for help. Also there is another saying, "don't give others a stick to beat you with", which is a warning about trusting others and being careful.

Toxic people get very good at fooling others into thinking they are worthy of respect. They often threaten their victims with no one will believe you and tell their victim it's their fault. Children and young adults are trusting, and when something bad happens to them they tend to self blame. So it's actually normal to make an effort to emotionally detach from traumas that involve being hurt by others. Society encourages us to "ignore", "just ignore that individual who is bothering you". Well, bad things don't just go away because one chooses to ignore. When a person struggles with PTSD, that is when they realize that the most. That is where the core of the anger comes from with PTSD.

A good example of that is how all the women that were victims of Bill Cosby never forgot. So far about 50 women have come forward. Sixty minutes just had an interview where 27 of these women bravely joined together to talk out in the open. Some of these women told their agents and the response they got was "don't say anything, no one will believe you". If one watches the interview it is very clear that none of these women ever really ignored it, or were all that successful at detaching from it. Bill Cosby is a prime example of how good a person/abuser can fool others/society into thinking they are "worthy of respect". He told every one of his victims that no one would believe them and he encouraged every one of them to feel "worthless". He was right about how if they told no one would believe them. There are still people who insist on not believing even though there are now 50 women that have come forward.

I have highlighted this because it is not your's or anyone's fault when they are hurt and they don't really forget or are successful at ignoring.