LL, your interpretation is directly on the discussion. Supposedly, everyone's past will influence their daily responses. Some people's responses are more intense than others. The others may work through the immediate response, but I think that the intense responses felt by people with PTSD, are extremely difficult to figure out. To separate from what is real, and what I may be responding to (that reminds me of the past abuse).

I hope this was more helpful for you.

1.transference - (psychoanalysis) the process whereby emotions are passed on or displaced from one person to another; during psychoanalysis the displacement of feelings toward others (usually the parents) is onto the analyst depth psychology, psychoanalysis, analysis - a set of techniques for exploring underlying motives and a method of treating various mental disorders; based on the theories of Sigmund Freud; "his physician recommended psychoanalysis"

countertransference - the psychoanalyst's displacement of emotion onto the patient or more generally the psychoanalyst's emotional involvement in the therapeutic interaction

displacement - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that transfers affect or reaction from the original object to some more acceptable one

Well, if you don't feel like being completely honest, then that may be the next thing to say..."I don't feel like being completely honest" No doubt there is some fertile ground to be plowed around that one simple statement...and that will lead where it leads...and so on...one small risk at a time, although they all feel huge at the time.
And as far as being 'completely honest', there is no such thing. I don't haveto talk to anyone about anything. It is important to be able to have a sense of our own boundaries, especially in a therapeutic relationship. The thing is then to remember that we are likely there to work on making some boundaries more flexible, again, by taking risks in a safe situation.
At some point even in the therapy I just walked away from, I began to appreciate the feeling of having parts of my story / self never before exposed to the light of day seen and heard and known. Such a huge part of loneliness seems to be the sense of not being known...

nor: Thanks for the definitions!