It's hard to believe

Sorry to hear it was so aweful for you.

Were there any positive experiences, friends or life skills you took from this that you can think of?

Have you worked on the trauma with a therapist yet? This is often very useful in defusing the impact from the trauma response from my personal experience and what I have heard from others.

Nothing positive at all. It's only quite recently that I mentioned the bullying to my care coordinator come depot nurse. She was the one who used the phrase 'bullying related trauma'. I've always seen it as decidedly minor in relation to the physical and sexual abuse some have been subjected to. That a far less pathetic person would have got over it decades ago.

Unknown said:

I've always seen it as decidedly minor in relation to the physical and sexual abuse some have been subjected to

Don't compare your suffering to others as it makes no concession to the impact it had, especially if it happend in you formative years.

As I understand it trauma can come from an accumulation of many similar events over a long period of time or even one big event but the end result is the same.

Unknown said:

a far less pathetic person would have got over it decades ago.

I found out that I was stull suffering from childhood related trauma in my 50s and the defence mechanisms I used to cope were still in evidence 40+ years later.

I regard myself as very resilient but it didn't help me get over the trauma until I started working with a trained psychotherapist who has an autistic family and knows a great deal about it - this really improved my quality of life from these events from my childhood.

That's just my experience - do with it what you will (just a disclaimer in case anyone complains I am offering medical advice).

Unknown said:

I've always seen it as decidedly minor in relation to the physical and sexual abuse some have been subjected to

Don't compare your suffering to others as it makes no concession to the impact it had, especially if it happend in you formative years.

As I understand it trauma can come from an accumulation of many similar events over a long period of time or even one big event but the end result is the same.

Unknown said:

a far less pathetic person would have got over it decades ago.

I found out that I was stull suffering from childhood related trauma in my 50s and the defence mechanisms I used to cope were still in evidence 40+ years later.

I regard myself as very resilient but it didn't help me get over the trauma until I started working with a trained psychotherapist who has an autistic family and knows a great deal about it - this really improved my quality of life from these events from my childhood.

That's just my experience - do with it what you will (just a disclaimer in case anyone complains I am offering medical advice).