Larry, my teenage boy alter, was able to share with our therapist a few days ago. He spoke of the time he was formed - swapping places with Lizzie (toddler girl), who couldn't handle what was happening.

Trigger: Upsetting animal & child cruelty:
The abuse sometimes involved animals, where I would have to play a cat & one of the men would be a dog (always a group of men in these situation). Sometimes there would be a real dog that they would make do things to me, or just scare me.
End of Trigger

As an adult, there have been 2 times when I've gone into playing a cat whilst having (positive) sex, with people I trusted. When I realised a few years later, what this was harking back to, I felt intense shame about it. But when I told my therapist about it, she just listened - didn't judge me, tell me I was lying, or look disgusted (that's happened before with other therapists). I felt some immense relief - it was the first time I'd ever told anyone about this part of the abuse I survived.

And then I realised that my voice had dropped to a different register - it was Larry speaking directly to the therapist! With one exception, my alters rarely speak out loud to other people. So to hear Larry's voice out loud was strange - I felt embarrassed a little, and proud at the same time. That on top o the relief at finally sharing something about the animal stuff. I'm definitely proud of Larry for opening up; he's usually a brooding, quiet but angry alter.

It's strange having such a positive outcome, when these episodes of my past made me so ashamed and afraid before. I'm counting this as a win.