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Faith - thank your for mentioning about getting locked in the past! Here is how our counsellor explained it - that trauma memories get stored in the part of the brain that was developing AT THE TIME. So when we think about them later, we re-experience them as if we were the same age as when it happened. So, for instance, my 15 year old fs might be reliving something that happened when he was six, and would be feeling all those fears and overwhelming emotions full-strenght without the ability to see them from a 15 year old perspective with all the the rational "I'm safe now" and "it's not my fault" etc. She said that her main goal with therapy will be to bring those memories to teh "front" of the brain so they can be re-processed and stored appropriately. But until then...I'm occasionally dealing with a very LARGE terrified 6 year old! (Which would also explain his occasional need to sit in my lap - very briefly and always done as if he's just joking around...but come on! He's 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds! ;-)
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