There are a lot of people who may tell you, in one way or another, to just "get over" your experiences with the ICC. The trouble is, memory repression isn't all it's cracked up to be. Memories from the ICC are like scars. They may fade, but they will never go away.

The memories from the ICC are like scars in many other ways, too. The worst of the pain will go away eventually. The scars left by the ICC can have different effects on your life, just like real scars. While they won't leave you the same again, you don't have to lament that you will never again be the way you were before you were scarred. Some people go to great lengths to hide them. Others don't show them off, but don't go out of their way to hide them. Some even wear scars as a badge of honor to show what they have survived. Of course, showing off one's ICC scars in front of someone who doesn't understand and appreciate what they mean is likely to get a response a lot like what happens when you try to impress the wrong people with physical scars.

However you choose to display or conceal your scars, however, they are something you can learn from. I've found a lot of healing from learning more about the true nature of what I was dealing with. You can "get on with it", but in one sense, it isn't something you can just "get over". I feel that perhaps the best way to "deal with it" is to accept that you won't be the same as you were before your experience with the ICC, and learn how that change can be for the better.

The scars the ICC leaves people with may be permanent, but it's your choice how to deal with them. They are only a disfigurement if you choose to consider them a disfigurement, just like real scars.