05/03/2026
She believed her childhood had been "perfect." What she uncovered was that her belief was a pure fantasy—one that had masked a lifelong erasure of her identity. What she experienced as "love" was a form of narcissistic parental over-investment; it was the dissolution of her boundaries as a separate human, affecting her identity and her relationships for years to come.
A young woman entered psychotherapy with a seemingly simple goal: to fulfil her training requirements. She believed her childhood had been "perfect," convinced that trauma only happened to "others." What she uncovered, however, was that her belief was a pure fantasy—one that had masked a lifelong ...