Years ago i had circumstances like yours but different .My dad was a man that didn't talk but when it came to punishment, he wrote the book on infusing fear into being corrected. You see, fear is an easily embedded reaction, a naturally simple emotion we all have that can mold is into being something we are normally not. It pumps up adrenal output and how we react is measured by the exposure to fear. So i hid from my dad all the time. He had a job that was stressful and was an alcoholic.
Later in my high school years, i found myself in situations where when i saw kids being made fun of or crying, i reacted to that with violence. I saw those kids, sad and crying and i began to see a grey blur. I became sad because they were, much like the way it dealt with being punished. I put myself into another plane of existence.
I can sometimes remember the hurt of their faces when i have dreams of events happening now. It's not the same thing you have, but i guess I'm sayng the power of the human mind is just incredible. Something we'll never fully understand. So it may seem different and not at all related to your issue, but it is another example of the mysterious ways of the mind.