I don't really know how I might handle that - but I have a couple of friends who share this circumstance.
In both of their cases, I've seen them be honest about it. Of course, it's actually kind of obvious. The nature and type of scars left behind - for them - make it difficult to conceive of another explanation.
That said, they both moved beyond that stage and worked through it with help from counselors. They're now able to talk about it freely, without shame or fear as the part of them and the part of their journey that it was.
We ALL have pieces of our past that caused us pain. We've all done and said and been things that we are not today. That is human. What you went through is incredibly (sadly) common. You have nothing to be ashamed of.
