It is painful. It's like having an old, deeply infected wound opened up and cleaned out. It can be extremely unpleasant, to put it mildly. BUT, until the wound is cleaned and dressed, it's never going to heal properly, and you're just poisoning yourself with the ongoing infection.
I haven't read the book, but I'm intimately familiar with what you're talking about. Believe me when I tell you that while it is a difficult process, it's worth it in too many ways to even start to list. This is the beginning of transformation, and that's not easy, but it is most definitely worth it.
Keep with it, but don't push yourself too hard. When you bring up something painful, let it flow from you, just let it be. Don't resist it or try to fight it or make exuses for it or for what you feel. If you need to feel humiliated for three days, then do that. If you need to be blisteringly angry at life, the universe, and everything, be angry. Don't judge yourself, and don't just the memories or the attached emotions. This is how you heal, this is the poison leaving you.
I can't say anything more comforting than that it will be all right, but it will be all right in amazing ways, I promise.
(Oh, and all the things I wrote there are based directly on experience. I grok.)
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