Adults with a history of troubled childhoods may not encounter more serious losses than others do, but their ability to cope will have been impaired by their upbringing. Stress does not occur in a vacuum. The same external event will have greatly varied physiological impact, depending on who is experiencing it. The death of a family member will be processed in a markedly different way by someone who is emotionally well integrated and in a supportive relationship than it will be by a person who is alone or—like Anna prior to her therapy—tormented by chronic guilt due to childhood conditioning.
