Kind of loosely based on this is the fear of being in the woods at night. Some people who camp solo for the first few times are freaked out by the sounds they hear in the forest at night. As you hear all those sounds, your mind will generate all kinds of scenarios. You MUST return and stick it out. As you face those fears, you become accustomed to it, and those fears get smaller and smaller until they are almost nothing at all. Once awareness and knowledge is in the driver's seat, the unknown is less of a factor.

As far as trauma goes, I agree with you, though trauma can be a hard thing to overcome. Even years after the event, when it's off your mind, sometimes you will find that certain things are hardwired in from it. The way we are treated as children can create behaviors that we wish we could get rid of. We can only pray that the ones we love can understand the methods to our madness and the monsters of our past that made them necessary.