Dear T,

I was SOOOOO nervous when I handed you a letter I wrote telling you about my f_cked up childhood. I didn't know what you were going to think! Instead of thinking of me as a nutjob, you said, "Thank you for sharing this with me. It means a lot to me."

I'm glad I shared my concerns about my diagnoses with you. Thank you for telling me my parents were assholes who neglected me! And thank you for saying that I wasn't a piece of sh_t. I seriously felt like a piece of sh_t for my extreme violence and mood swings during my adolescent years, but it's good to know that you strongly believe I had undiagnosed emotional dysregulation disorder. Basically, I wasn't just a "crazy child". I had mental health issues that my parents blatantly ignored.

I'm going to tell you next session how much I appreciate your words. Seriously, all these years I've been feeling like a f_cking sh_t stain. I was always so guilty about my childhood and adolescence. But now all of this guilt has dissipated. I realize that sh_t happened and it wasn't necessarily my fault, since children aren't so great at handling emotions.

Thank you so much!