“Is it normal to suffer till now?”. Her look invaded in my eyes. She was so hungry for an answer. She kept wondering how it was possible to carry this pain for so many years. She thought that she was the problem. She was certain that other “normal” people don’t feel that way. Nobody had taught her to validate her emotion. Everybody pretended that everything was fine. She was left alone puzzled.

My 50 y/o client felt relieved when I told her that I have heard similar stories and emotional reactions. Her look became softer.

“I don’t really want answers neither reassurance. What I need is love”, she acknowledged her behavior bursting into tears.

I highly respect clients who have survived emotional abuse. I admire their resilience and their decision to dive into the past painful experiences.

Through therapy they accept their pain, acquire awareness about the abusive stimuli, take emotional risks, unite the broken pieces according to their values, learn to forgive and last, but not least, they set out a journey of giving and receiving love.