I’m 25 years old, successful in life generally, have much to be grateful for, but have acknowledged I need deep and plenty of therapy to help navigate my emotions about how my dad treated me when I was a teen, and even still how he treats my youngest siblings. Being hit, punched, verbally abused and emotionally manipulated regularly was the norm, and I can remember every single episode of abuse even stemming down to when I was 10 years old. I recall one particular time I said “no kid deserves to get abused” while he was hitting me and he replied “you deserve it the most”.

Now, I still end up in tears at random times if I start to remember what he did. I’ve realised I cant handle movies with kids being hurt, I’ve developed anger issues and hypermasculinity at times - I didn’t expect it to have this much impact on me till this day and age. Has anyone navigated this situation by themselves? How did you go about it?