Dear Carolyn: Growing up, my brother and I were frequently subjected to corporal punishment, like slapping and spanking. I’ve been resentful and have struggled with intrusive violent thoughts from a young age that my therapist says stem from my early-childhood exposure to aggression. This came up during a recent conversation with my mom. She shut me down and said she never hit us. She has downplayed it before, but not that explicitly. My dad also denied ever hitting us. I mentioned a time when he slapped me and my brother for denting the car with our baseball. My dad denied it. After my brother confirmed the story, my dad apologized “if that happened” but continued to say he didn’t remember it.
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