For me, returning to therapy after twenty years, only to discover that the pain I'd left behind years ago was only hiding under the surface and waiting to reappear in memories, daydreams, and nightmares. As a sexual abuse survivor, I thought I was bad, defective, crazy and alone. I felt unwanted, rejected, hated and despised for a lengthy portion of childhood. The trauma was engrained in my mind, soul and body. How would I recover from lingering effects of childhood trauma and achieve a rich and fulfilling life despite the emotional flashbacks and self-injuring response that childhood trauma forces some survivors to adopt? With a linear progression of recovery, focusing on identifying what I've already accomplished, and learning to figure out what is best to work on and prioritize now to identify the signs of recovery and to develop reasonable expectations about the rate of recovery. With the aid of a psychiatrist (medicine) and psychotherapist (counseling), I, Avery, tackle the sudden and flooding thoughts by working through the past and grounding myself to the present using psychodynamic therapy interwoven with cognitive behavioral therapy.