Trauma patients experience the repression of relevant memories, emotions and feelings. This repression leads patients with post-traumatic stress to develop an isolative emotion-based defense pattern. This study addresses the therapy of a long term, Chinese, male patient whose mother died during his childhood. The patient initially talked about his mother's death with a smile upon his face and slowly recalled details about his mother's death which had been repressed. After the recall and review of traumatic memories, I had the opportunity to discuss the emotions that were buried deep inside the memories. When memories were reframed, based on the patient's emotions, the patient recognized and felt sorrow, fear, guilt and self-recrimination. The patient began to understand the loss and how he was defined by the loss. Furthermore he was able to recognize which part of him was affected by the trauma. The flow of the traumatic memories resulted from his being permitted to mourn. When mourning was allowed, the patient had the opportunity to find a new love object and to establish new, intimate relationships. Also explored is the additional cross-generational trauma of growing up with the legacy of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.