Hi Ami,
In myself and my work, I don’t like to think of issues or experiences being “overcome.” Instead, I think of them as being added to. If you receive enough experience with “voice”, and most often this requires a therapist, you lay down another set of “tracks” in your brain—such that you are able to experience the world in another way. But you don’t lose the first set—although they may become somewhat rusty with disuse. The part of me that had very little control or agency growing up is still there. And it’s actually very useful to me—to help me to understand, to empathize, to be sensitive, to feel vulnerable. Without the experience, I would not be who I am today (e.g., I’d be a lousy therapist!). The downside, if you will (but nothing I would willingly give up), is a hyperawareness and a hypersensitivity, and a diminished sense of self-love (or what the profession calls “healthy narcissism”). Of course, these characteristics have a lot to do with genetics as well...
Best,
Richard
