I am very glad this was brought up. I am not an expert on psychology or the "whys" of this phenomenon, but I have been very aware of feeling stuck emotionally at a young age though I haven't been able to fully realize this until you brought this topic up. I feel helpless the way a child does at times, like I need to be handheld through even small tasks or relatively small challenges. For example, I've never operated a forklift in a warehouse, this week my boss comes up to me and asks me about forklifting . My response is one of somewhat irrational fear. I couldn't help it, but I felt like a scared child being asked to do something impossible and responded that way initially. "No, I can't, don't know, haven't... then I said "yet" when I saw that I was reacting weird to a basically harmless inquiry from a boss who seems to esteem me. This is just one of countless irrational responses I've had and they are not proportional to the reality of a given situation.
In other areas of my psyche, I am very informed, self-assured and confident like a healthy man/husband/father etc. that I really am, so I am disturbed to see this tendency within to be abnormally afraid of situations when I "know better". Also, others judge me because they can sometimes see this manifestation of insecurity in me, a subconscious but strong desire to have approval when I am speaking coming through the sometimes high pitched tone in my voice, explaining too much. I think Straight had a role in this development, but I am not devastated by knowing that I was emotionally abused at many phases of my young life by all too human authority figures.
I am personally learning to trust God with all emotional turmoil inside and finding Him gradually removing these painful memories. In so doing, I have found that my "potential self" in Him to be quite wonderful, desirable and even awesome. It is much the opposite of the problems I described above. I find myself asking less unneccessary questions (my mom has always done this-she was emotionally scarred by her own mother growing up-these things seem to get passed on somehow). When I pray to know God better, I end up resembling Him more and He is not insecure in the least. But the spiritual growth that I am describing is a daily process. It requires effort. It doesn't happen all at once, but I can see the difference as I persist and I like that alot.
So, though I have grieved over the realization of childhood abuse and it's effects on me today, I am leading a full life in spite of that. This is why I have always encouraged people here to live a full life, and to overcome the various negatives of our experiences including Straight. We emphatically can and should live free and fulfilling lives despite it all don't you know.
Thank you for bringing up this important topic. I would love to hear more from you if you would care to share more about it.