Dark Side Of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
This piece was created from a place of deep reflection on what it means to carry something long after the moment itself has passed.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is often misunderstood as memory alone, as something that exists only in the past. But this work speaks to a different reality, one where the body continues to hold what the mind is trying to let go of. Where time does not always move forward in a straight line and certain moments remain present, alive beneath the surface.
The figure in this piece is intentionally stripped of identity. It is not one person but many. A representation of those who live with experiences that do not stay where they belong. The absence of a face reflects the loss of self that can occur when trauma takes hold, when identity becomes shaped not by who you are but by what you have been through.
The tension wrapped tightly around the figure symbolises the unrelenting grip of PTSD. It is not a passive presence but something active, constricting, and invasive. It binds the body, restricts movement, and creates a sense of being trapped within your own reactions. These are not responses that are chosen but ones that happen instinctively, automatically, as the nervous system attempts to protect itself.
This piece explores the reality of hypervigilance, the constant state of alertness, where safety feels uncertain and the world is scanned for threats that may or may not exist. It reflects the experience of reliving, where memories do not remain as distant recollections but return as sensations, flashes, and overwhelming moments that take control without warning.
PTSD is not just remembering what happened.
It is feeling it again.
It is the sudden shift in a room that hasn’t changed.
The racing heart without a visible cause.
The body reacting before the mind has time to understand why.
There is a weight to this experience, a persistence that can make it feel as though there is no clear separation between past and present. The figure’s posture reflects this heaviness, not in defeat but in endurance. Because despite everything, there is still a presence. Still a form that exists within the struggle.
At its core this piece is not only about the grip of trauma but about the slow, often painful process of loosening it.
Healing is not linear, it is not immediate and it is rarely visible from the outside. It exists in small moments, in learning to sit with discomfort, in finding ways to feel safe again within your own body. It is in reclaiming control, piece by piece even when that control feels fragile.
This artwork does not aim to define PTSD but to give form to something that is often invisible. To create a visual language for an experience that can be difficult to explain but deeply felt.
If this piece resonates, it is a reminder that what you feel is real. That the weight you carry has context. And that even within that weight, there is the possibility of release no matter how gradual. EMDR therapy is a really great tool to help anyone who is struggling with PTSD.
