Dear B-1472~
Welcome ot the Forum. It's a god move on your part as if you look around you will find others in similar situations and can see how they handled things.
I think I disagree with you when you say " after all, I don’t really know what happened so there is nothing to discuss really,". Something really did happen - an uncomfortable session. To have tears and a physical reaction is pretty painful and worrying. It frightened the life out of me the first time I cried.
The fact you are unsure of the past is also a great worry. It has obviously made you react strongly and that I woud suggest is sufficient reason to talk with your family. There is nothing to stop you saying you do not know what -if anything - happened, you were still deeply affected.
Who you discus this with -if anyone - is your decision, you know your family and would have an idea of how each member may react. It may possibly be a comfort to them to have the reason for your mood swings, use of alcohol and anxiety.
Again I can't say if it is beneficial to open up wiht oyur psych. As you say everyone is different. I received trauma in a different way, but for a very long time was unaware of a number of events. If asked I would have genuinely said I knew nothing about it.
My psychiatrist's method was not to press, and eventually incidents would come back into my recollection together with a quite pronounced reaction. It always made me wonder if there was more buried - which there was. In my case my psych told me as my mind became ready to deal with something then it would produce it.
Early on wiht a different psych I was 'encouraged' to discuss events which I did not remember, and this made me most uncomfortable during hte session and in the days after so I switched to another therapist.
Please do not take my experiences as being a recommendation for what you should do. It may be if I'd persevered early on then maybe my recovery to my present good state might have been quicker -I just don't know.
I do know family support made a huge difference, even though it was hard on my partner it helped carry me through and I owe her a debt. She did have her own support in the form of her mum, who was there for her all the time, and I think it made a big difference to her reaction to me.
Again I'd say that was my partner and her circumstances (and occupation -she was a nurse), I cannot make any suggestions on how you partner might feel.
If you think I'm fence sitting you are quite right, I don't want to influence you one way or another, just let you know my expereince
Croix
