User blog comment:Paul.rea/New Information from Jeff Davis/@comment-65.94.226.158-20130220034153/@comment-4091815-20130220035913

Here is the full Question and Answer from Jeff to give you the context you seek.

Q - Love the show and thank you so much for doing this! You rock! :) Now to my question. We have seen a lot of horrible things happen to Derek, things that anyone would struggle to cope with. I guess what I want to know is, will we actually see him come to terms with things?

A- Yes and no. Because many more horrible things are about to happen to him. We call this conflict! And we kinda’ love beating up on him.

Since Jeff is a Writer - I would suggest when he uses the phrase "we kinda love beating up on him" it does apply to emotional issues as well.