When we are children, by way of coping with bad things that may have happened to us, we pop our feelings into a “box”. The imaginary box is stored deep within our brains; we are too young to properly process them…

It’s only as adults that we begin to reflect, and in my experience, I didn’t do this until my late forties. It’s probably because as young adults we are busy creating our careers or indeed having children of our own.

In later years, we’ve either dealt with our childhood skeletons, or we haven’t. Fortunate people may feel, upon reflecting, that events in their childhood no longer trouble them – family matters may have been resolved. Equally, we might be going about our daily life when suddenly an old song, scent or place can pull us right back to the point of a particular trauma. Post-traumatic stress disorder is far more common than you may think.

I speak to many people on a daily basis and it’s surprising how many of them are affected by PTSD. They have residual problems often based on unfounded guilt or sadness, for example. However, there are many tools which have been proven to help, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and counselling, to name a couple.
A friend recently said to me: “I just want to be able to understand and fix my brain”. If you are still trying to process your feelings and are suffering with your mental health as a result, please be brave enough to seek professional support – and don’t forget that talking to friends and family can be invaluable too.