I have lived through several things that might have left emotional scars. I fought in a war. Aside form the occasional twitch at realizing I had indeed fought in a war, I came away relatively scar-free. I know for a fact there have been thousands of people who cannot say that. There there was my little indiscretion with one of my former friends. I personally know folks who do that sort of thing all the time and have nary an issue. For me, it nearly ruined my life and I still can go a couple of days without thinking about how it affected me.

There are too many variables in an emotional situation to be able to assume everyone will react the same way to something. (Of course, that goes double for the way people will react to something you write.)

All in all, a very nice essay on the subject. You should consider teaching writing. You'd be pretty good at it.