They haven't changed? I feel like I'm more myself, less distant with them. Like I'm finally letting go of the grudges I've held over childhood trauma and...

The descent into mourning is at once the most necessary and the most dreaded task of this stage of recovery. [Survivors] often fear that the task is insurmountable, that once they allow themselves to start grieving, they will never stop.

The survivor frequently resists mourning, not only out of fear but also out of pride. She may consciously refuse to grieve as a way of denying victory to the perpetrator. In this case it is important to reframe the patient's mourning as an act of courage rather than humiliation. To the extent that the patient is unable to grieve, she is cut off from a part of herself and robbed of an important part of her healing. Reclaiming the ability to feel the full range of emotions, including grief, must be understood as an act of resistance rather than submission to the perpetrator's intent. Only through mourning everything that she has lost can the [survivor] discover her indestructible inner life."

It's the same thing going on internally, yet they are made to feel like evil monsters deserving of punishment, rather than people who deserve empathy and care.

I'm not a mental health professional in the least bit. I'm just an individual diagnosed with PTSD, who's "fight or flight" response is usually "fight," and this is something I've observed among my peers and in the media.