I'm bawling and I need to vent.

[nolabear]

4. As a therapist who has worked with traumatized children I agree

I agree wholeheartedly with this. Children’s brains are literally growing connections. We think in terms of thoughts and feelings but those are produced by neural connections. Some fare better than others but there’s not a one that comes out unchanged. When you lose the connection to parents (or steady caregivers) as safety, a source of trust, someone from whom you literally learn to be human, you find ways to survive and find comfort differently throughout your life.

They won’t be the same.