Children who come from a background of abuse face a double challenge in the development of their capacity for symbolic thought that would allow them to know themselves and their experience. The first challenge comes from the deficits in their early caretaking environment. They have not had adequate containing experience to allow them to develop a capacity for elaborated symbolic thought. The second challenge, however, comes from the traumatic nature of their experience. To think about abuse is to risk being retraumatized by the process of memory.