Hi, everyone - My name is Hillary and I'm new to the forums here. Just looking for some support during a difficult season of my life...

I've been in therapy for about a year to deal with some things from my past. I am estranged from virtually all of my family now, but memories and thoughts and feelings still linger. Recently, I've been talking in therapy about how I have a lot of confusion about the things that happened in my family. They felt really bad at the time, but over the years I've come to believe I really overreacted and that things really weren't as severe as they felt at the time. That feeling is endorsed by virtue of the fact that my first therapist (who I was seeing in the midst of some of the worst times) never made a report of abuse, the police didn't help when I called them for help on one or two occasions, and of course my parents would laugh in my face if I ever claimed they "abused" me.

Has anyone else experienced this bind of not knowing how to think about your life experiences? Wondering if you were too sensitive or pathetically childish or somehow deluding yourself into believing abuse happened when it really didn't? How did you come to terms with your conflicting feelings? Or did you ever find any resolution?

Thanks for the support, everyone.