When “I’m Handling It” Isn’t Enough
“I’ve seen enough for one day. I’ll just sleep it off.”
“This is part of the job.”
“Everyone else seems to be dealing with things ok.”
“It’s not that bad.”
You train to run toward crises. That habit can become a barrier when your mind needs care.
You witness suffering, push through, compartmentalize. But trauma doesn’t always stop when your shift ends. The very habit of pushing through crises can keep trauma unprocessed and open the door to nightmares, intrusive memories, hypervigilance, and even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
It’s tempting to believe “I’m handling it.” But mounting evidence shows that delaying trauma-focused care doesn’t protect you, it often allows symptoms to cement.
Why Many Delay Therapy
In the vet med community, saying “I need help” feels like admitting you're broken. This phenomenon isn’t limited to the profession. Among first responders, about one in three say mental health stigma affects willingness to seek help. In veterinary med, many teams and students also report stronger stigma toward mental health than the general public and greater doubts about therapy’s usefulness.
Veterinary identity factors in too: medical training, perfectionism, imbalance of values and beliefs, and an ethos of sacrifice influence the view that admitting psychological distress is a threat to self-image.
Beyond psychology, there are other constraints: shift schedules, cost, travel, and a shortage of trauma-trained providers. Past negative experiences with therapists can also sow a sense of distrust and increase the belief that you must cope on your own.
What Happens When Trauma Isn’t Processed
Skip therapy for months and the brain does its own work. Symptoms can become reinforced. Nightmares persist. Intrusive memories “come out of nowhere.” Emotional narrowing, avoidance, and hypervigilance set in. If symptoms occur within three days to one month following a traumatic event, an individual should consider an evaluation for Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) and treatment of distressing symptoms. Over time, the patterns from ASD can develop into chronic PTSD.
Factors that can elevate the risk of developing ASD are past psychiatric disorders, prior trauma, greater trauma severity, avoidant coping, high neuroticism, and being female.*
Delaying keeps symptoms cycling; timely, targeted therapy interrupts that cycle.
Mechanisms: Why Early Trauma-Focused Processing Helps
1. Memory integration vs. fragmentation: Unprocessed traumatic memory often remains encoded in sensory/situational forms (flashbacks, intrusions). Processing supports integration into autobiographical memory (reducing recurrence).
2. Extinction learning: Exposure and cognitive interventions reduce maladaptive associations, fear generalization, and avoidance behavior.
3. Sleep stabilization: Treating nightmares and improving sleep (e.g. Imagery Rehearsal Therapy) supports emotional regulation and memory consolidation.
4. Interrupting positive feedback loops: Without intervention, avoidance strengthens symptoms; early therapy disrupts escalation.
What Early Processing Looks Like
If intense symptoms last more than a week or two, that’s your signal. Early, trauma-focused therapy (TFT) is not just useful, it’s preventive. TFT has been shown to improve functioning, change beliefs about participants’ trauma, themselves, and the future, and improve symptoms.
Trauma focused modalities include Prolonged Exposure, Psychological First Aid, Cognitive Processing Therapy, trauma-focused CBT, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and for nightmares, Imagery Rehearsal Therapy.
How to Begin When You’re Always On
1. Self-screen after an exposure
Use a self-check (e.g. persistent nightmares, repeated unwanted images, emotional over-reactivity, avoidance). If symptoms last beyond 2 weeks, consider next steps.
2. Request trauma-trained care
Look for clinicians who list PTSD, trauma, or exposure therapy in their profile. Telehealth can broaden your options.
3. Negotiate logistics
Ask for short protocols or flexible scheduling (e.g. 30–45 minute sessions, flexibility for last-minute schedule conflicts). Additionally, many therapists offer sliding or payment plans.
4. Frame it as performance maintenance
Just like vehicle or physical maintenance, internal care keeps you in top shape.
5. Don’t wait for a “breakdown”
The earlier you act in the symptomatic window, the easier the therapeutic arc tends to be.
Why We Wait (“I’m Handling It”)
Role identity: “I’m the one others rely on”
Self-reliance as a badge of honor
Stigma, shame, fear of career impact
Practical barriers: time, money, provider shortage
Distrust from past poor therapeutic experiences
What Helps (Evidence-Based)
Trauma-focused CBT (exposure + cognitive work)
Imagery rehearsal or rescripting for nightmares
Early timing (within weeks of symptom onset)
Accelerated recovery
Avoid blanket debriefing models
Closing Thoughts
Your mind absorbs what your body can’t fully contain. Even a single distressing call, a difficult surgical death, or an unexpected situation or outcome can leave mental residue. Choosing to process rather than push through does not weaken you. In fact, it vaccinates you for future resilience.
If you’re reading this while your nights are teeming with replay loops, or you find yourself avoiding triggers or numbing out, take a step: find a clinician who knows trauma, commit to a short assessment, and give trauma focused care time to work before symptoms root. The earlier you act, the faster you get back to being you.
*Data from 15 countries in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative found that while females have a higher prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders, males have higher rates of externalizing disorders and substance abuse disorders.
Related MentorVet Articles:
9 Tips for Finding the Right Therapist
References (including additional references)
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