Episode 223: Decreasing Defense Mechanisms

There are four key ways that children protect themselves from being overwhelmed by the emotional pain of prolonged abuse and neglect.  We call these defense mechanisms, and they typically have an expiration date.  They can be effective in protecting children through traumatic childhoods, but at some time they will stop working.  At this point, we can develop new, advanced defense mechanisms or we can face the trauma and explore how it is impacting our adult lives.