The hardest thing about healing isn't the work itself. It's the quiet grief of realizing how many years you spent believing the problem was you, when the actual problem was an environment that needed you to believe that in order to keep functioning - Silicon Canals

"The belief that you were the problem wasn't an accident. It was a solution. In a family, workplace, or relationship that is itself dysfunctional, somebody has to carry the dysfunction."

"Grief for lost time is an often overlooked form of bereavement, partly because it has no funeral, no ritual, and no socially sanctioned mourning period."

Children treated for anxiety and depression often show improvement in clinical settings but regress at home due to family dynamics. The family system may need the child to stay sick for its own functioning. Healing involves confronting past beliefs and realizing the impact of those beliefs on personal identity. This realization can lead to grief for lost time and a sense of loss rather than liberation, as the belief that one was the problem served as a coping mechanism in dysfunctional environments.

Read at Silicon Canals