Falling apart //trauma

The consecutive arguments, the irresponsible behavior from one side and the offensive treatment from the other eventually led to the end of the relationship between Harry and Dahlia. Divorce is usually a bad experience for children, who often begin to blame themselves for their parents's separation. In this case, however, Harry and Dahlia tried to act accordingly. They made it clear for Cheryl that both her father and her mother loved her greatly, that they would still be seeing each other, that it was not her fault. They tried to force into Cheryl's mind that their divorce had absolutely nothing to do with her. It didn't help much. But I assume it would have worked, were the following events different.

Because divorce, even though being somewhat traumatizing, specially for a seven-year-old child, can be overcomed. What happened next is what truly traumatized Cheryl. As he left the place he used to call home, Harry crashed his car and died. Now, that is traumatizing.

Cheryl not only starts blaming herself for the divorce, but also for Harry's death. The seven-year-old girl that couldn't deal with such tragedy so suddenly simply decided not to deal with it. From that point on, Cheryl lived in denial -- she denied her father's death, denied her father himself. To Cheryl, Harry was perfect in the fantasy world build out of the perfect memories of the perfect moments she had lived with her father. In other words, she started living in a life where she could ignore her own pain. And Harry wasn't a drunk, irresponsible father -- he was a hero.