How Two Teens Who Suffered A Traumatic Childhood Can Work Through Their Fears

Simon and Abba were removed from the home of Michael and Sharen Gravelle in 2005 after it was discovered that many of the Gravelle’s fostered and adopted children spent time in cages.

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Simon claims most of his siblings were “treated like animals” and were rarely allowed to leave the cages.

Abba says that she carries enormous guilt because she says she was treated better than her siblings — allowed to sleep in a bed and leave the house — and she never understood why.

In the video above, Dr. Phil offers advice to the siblings, now 18 and 19, who say they both need to heal from their experiences.

“When you go through these kinds of things, it creates wounds to what I call our psychological skin,” Dr. Phil says. “And both of you have had your psychological skin burned in a really, really bad way. And if you don’t ever deal with that, you don’t when it’s going to pop back up.”

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He continues, “What you need to make sure you do is that you fully, 100 percent, take your power back from this experience. That you fully, 100 percent, heal those wounds, that you don’t let things fester inside you.”

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Dr. Phil offers Simon and Abba specialized care to help them work through their feelings and move on from their past.

This episode of Dr. Phil airs Wednesday. Watch more here.

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