Malcolm. 24 years in Guards Regiment

“My problems started in the army. Some pretty bad things happened. I started using weed to keep a lid on my anxiety — but after a while nothing worked.”

“I had no job, no girlfriend. I was losing it at the smallest thing. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t even drive cos I’d get paralysed with fear. When I found PTSD Resolution I had to have online therapy cos at that point I couldn’t leave the house.”

“I had a lot of questions about what was wrong with me. We talked about anxiety and the emotional brain, and how it controls our lives. I wanted to know as much as I could and my therapist didn’t patronise me — just explained how it all works and why my army trauma was still affecting me.”

“A few sessions in I started seeing a big difference. So did my mum — she said I was much calmer, and I drove on the motorway (in the rain!) for the first time without having a panic attack. I got a job on a building site, only temporary but better than nothing. And I got a girlfriend. I was smoking less too, slowly. Coming off weed after years is hard.”

“The best thing I learned in therapy was this technique that stops you spiralling out. Turns out I needed it.”

“A few weeks before Christmas four of my mates from my platoon took their own lives. I could talk to my therapist about it and my family was solid — but it set me back. Then my boss told me he had no work until March, and my girlfriend left me. That was it — I was back on the weed big time and fell in a big hole.”

“Around then I realised how all my depression and problems are to do with weed. I tried to go cold turkey and did 2 weeks, but then used on the weekend. I was ripping into myself, but my therapist said we should work out a plan to quit gradually — so one day I’ll be off it completely.”

“Today I’m almost there. I’ve got a new job, I’m in a new relationship and I’m feeling good. I sleep better, I’ve got a handle on my thoughts and I use my grounding techniques every day. It’s these techniques I’m most thankful for, because without them I wouldn’t be where I am.”

“It’s not that my therapist sorted my life. He showed me how to cope when things go wrong. Cos they do. Before therapy that used to paralyse me, but now I know I will always be okay — because I can rely on myself.”