I guess, as children, when exposed to such things, without the adult thoughts or power to deal with it, strategies are learned to survive. There are probably limited options as kids though, as we still depend on parents for shelter, food etc.

So I do think these same feelings can get triggered as adults in similar circumstances.

Probably a good first step in over coming this, to be open to explore it and recognise when it may be happening and then learning to respond to the situation, in a different way.

Not sure how to do this yet, I'm still in the exploring stage.