Jabber, you're so right. I've read in many places (and I think that Princess Lenora has also researched and discussed this) that abuse, especially early childhood abuse, literally rewires us. Abusive environments skew the way we process life, and our psyches are forever impacted to some extent, depending on the severity/longevity of the abuse. In other words, we can feel that we are forever swimming against the tide because the abuse has broken our ability to see the world the same way as the majority of people around us. It takes long years of hard work to "rewire the attic" but I'm not sure that it's possible to completely erradicate the scars that abuse leaves on us. But I think we have to keep striving to believe in other possibilities for ourselves and hopefully weave our hard-won wisdom into ways to help others through their own rewiring journey.