Gentle note for readers:
This article discusses trauma and post-traumatic stress. Please read at your own pace, and feel free to pause, skip sections, or return another time if that feels right.
Post-traumatic stress is often associated with soldiers returning from war, but trauma can affect anyone. It is not limited to one type of experience, age group, or background. PTSD can happen to you or me.
PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is commonly understood as an anxiety-based condition. It can develop when an experience overwhelms the nervous system’s ability to cope, leaving the mind and body in a state of ongoing alert, even when the original threat has passed.
How PTSD can develop
PTSD may arise after experiences that feel frightening, overwhelming, or deeply distressing. These experiences are often outside what we think of as everyday human stress and can leave a lasting emotional imprint.
Such experiences might include serious accidents, medical trauma, relationship abuse, violence, or other situations where a person felt unsafe, powerless, or unable to escape. Sometimes PTSD develops soon after the event, and sometimes symptoms emerge months later.
Common signs and experiences
People living with PTSD can experience a wide range of symptoms, which vary from person to person. These may include:
intrusive memories or flashbacks
disturbed sleep or recurring nightmares
persistent anxiety or tension
difficulty relaxing or switching off
irritability or emotional reactivity
heightened sensitivity to noise or sudden change
problems with concentration or memory
low mood or loss of motivation
withdrawal from social contact
feelings of isolation or disconnection
These experiences can come and go. Symptoms may ease for a time and then return unexpectedly. Living in this state can be exhausting and can gradually affect confidence, self-worth, relationships, and work life.
Many people with PTSD appear outwardly capable, confident, or successful, while internally struggling with fear, self-doubt, or a sense of being constantly “on edge”.
Case study using BrainWorking Recursive Therapy (BWRT®)
I worked with a client I’ll call Debbie (not her real name). Debbie was in her 30s, had a successful career, and appeared confident, organised, and capable. She was articulate, a strong communicator, and highly competent at work.
Debbie initially came to see me for help with claustrophobia and panic attacks. During our initial consultation, it became clear that she had experienced significant trauma earlier in her life, including a serious violent incident and a long-term emotionally and physically abusive relationship.
Although she had worked hard to move on and build a successful career, her nervous system had never truly stood down from high alert.
Over time, Debbie began experiencing panic attacks, disturbed sleep, heightened irritability, and growing anxiety. She avoided certain situations, felt constantly tense, and used food and alcohol at times to manage her stress. Outwardly she coped well, but inwardly she felt overwhelmed, disconnected, and unsure of herself.
Despite her achievements, Debbie carried a deep sense of self-doubt and low self-worth. She believed she didn’t truly deserve her success and feared being “found out”. At work she began to avoid conflict and felt increasingly anxious around certain colleagues. She worried about her future and felt stuck, unable to move forward.
Debbie knew she could not continue living this way. She wanted to feel calm, confident, and emotionally grounded again, but felt blocked by the past.
Our plan of action
Together, we identified several areas that needed attention. Our focus was to:
address the unresolved trauma
reduce panic attacks and anxiety
work with the claustrophobia
rebuild self-esteem and confidence
strengthen emotional resilience
We worked together over a number of sessions, setting clear and realistic goals.
BWRT® is particularly effective for working with anxiety-based issues such as PTSD, panic attacks, stress, and fear responses. Trauma can act like a roadblock in the mind — no matter how much a person wants to move forward, something inside keeps pulling them back.
Triggers can be unpredictable and vary from person to person. A sound, image, memory, or situation can activate the stress response, even when there is no present danger.
Change and recovery
Through BWRT®, Debbie was able to process and neutralise the trauma responses held in her nervous system. The memories no longer felt immediate or overwhelming. They became experiences from the past rather than threats in the present.
As the fear response softened, Debbie began to feel calmer, more grounded, and more in control. She found her voice again at work, felt able to set boundaries, and noticed a growing sense of self-respect.
She began to treat herself with compassion rather than criticism and started to feel comfortable in her own skin for the first time in many years.
Tears of joy
During our work together, there were moments of emotion, insight, and laughter. By our final session, Debbie described feeling lighter, calmer, and more hopeful about the future.
The panic attacks had stopped, the claustrophobia had eased, and she felt emotionally stronger and more resilient. She no longer identified as a victim of her past, but as someone moving forward with confidence and self-trust.
Debbie felt optimistic about her life and her future. She described it as reconnecting with her true self — free to live with greater ease, self-respect, and compassion.
A final word
If you are living with PTSD, you are not weak, broken, or failing. Trauma responses are the nervous system’s attempt to protect you, even long after the danger has passed.
Support is available, and recovery is possible. BWRT® is one therapeutic approach that can help people move forward without reliving the past.
If you would like to explore support, you are welcome to reach out — or seek help from one of the many organisations and professionals who work compassionately in this field.