Why did Will feel the abuse was his fault?

Exactly.. It's not a logical conclusion for him to have reached which is strange considering in the rest of his life, he has a very practical, logical mind, but that's just the way it often works.. abusers play on their victims insecurities and eventually convince them that they are at fault.. Perhaps he felt that it was his fault for making his abuser angry or even for not defending himself.. We don't know but it's a belief a lot of real life victims hold.

The abuse happened when he was a helpless, little child who couldn't defend himself mentally or physically. A small child at a young age, believes his/her parents are always right, therefore self blame is only natural. There is a natural, organic hierarchy built in to a parent child relationship, when abused can be fatal for a child's future.

Will had no way to defend against it, even in the present. The trauma get's preserved at whatever age it occurred. Let's say the trauma occurred at 3 years old. Will could be 25 but parts of his emotions have stagnated and arrested in development due to that trauma.

Will struggles to form close connections with people and has a profound distrust. He struggles in most relationships and has a fear of intimacy. All of this stems from a child being distrustful of their parents.

In summary, your future is your past. Unless of course, you can change through personal growth or seeking help. This can occur at any age and depends on the person's genetics and general outlook/coping mechanism for life. Some can recuperate and become stronger, other's will deteriorate. Since it's a hybrid and multi-faceted, it's often obscured why some do better than others.

Not being able to forge relationships opens someone up to feeling lonely, depressed and anxious all the time. Therefore it is paramount that any individual get's help. Attachment disorder will often lead a person to a path of suicidal thoughts and self destructive behaviour if left untreated.

PM any questions, I've had a similar background and I'm in deep therapy. Hope this response edifies someone.

Excuse me, she left to go to medical school, which had been her plan all along.

I've done a bit of counseling work as well. I had a 30 something woman who was forced to give up a baby when she was 16. It pretty much destroyed her. It marred every relationship and interaction and friendship in her life. She grieved at the loss of what she felt was her first true love and her soul mate (he was also a teen).

She turned into a sobbing mess as well, when I used those exact same words. It TRULY wasn't her fault she was forced to give up the baby. Things were a lot different for girls back in the late eighties in small town America. She was too far along by the time she came clean about the pregnancy. Boyfriend had already abandoned her. She truly loved him and didn't want to give up this piece of him. But there were no support systems in place and both her parents were determined she was NOT going to keep the baby. They didn't want her to ruin her life. However, by taking this important choice away from her, THEY damaged her beyond their wildest imagination.

It was not Will's fault he was beaten and abused. There wasn't anything he could have done to stop it. He have known that on the surface, but when Sean violated his space bubble and really got him to ACCEPT and believe it, that was a huge breakthrough.

Not the greatest or most accurate depiction of therapy, but a good watch.

All typos are hereby blamed on my iPad.

Interesting point.
When Sean finally got through, though, Will's reaction was: "I'm so sorry"