The Recovery First Podcast: Going Through PTSD Therapy In RecoveryThe Recovery First Podcast: Going Through PTSD Therapy In Recovery
The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast by Freedom Recovery Services of Greenville
Mike Todd shares his experience of living with PTSD during long-term sobriety and how EMDR therapy helped him process childhood trauma. He challenges shame around mental illness and stresses that seeking help is part of recovery, not a failure of it.
10:16•14 Jun 2021
PTSD, EMDR and Long-Term Sobriety: Mike Todd Shares His Story
Episode Overview
- PTSD and severe anxiety can persist even after many years in recovery, and may need separate, focused treatment.
- Loved ones can sometimes see the impact of mental illness more clearly and may be key in encouraging someone to seek help.
- EMDR therapy, though demanding, can help reprocess childhood trauma from an adult perspective and reduce its power in the present.
- Feeling unworthy of a PTSD diagnosis or support is common, especially for those who compare themselves to others they see as "more deserving".
- Dropping shame around mental illness and therapy is essential; needing help does not erase the value of anyone’s recovery journey.
“Let's stop being ashamed of mental illness. Let's stop being ashamed of post-traumatic stress disorder.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This episode of The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast takes that question head-on, as host Mike Todd shares an honest, raw account of going through PTSD therapy after decades in recovery. Aimed at people in long-term recovery, those newly sober, and anyone wrestling with mental health alongside addiction, the episode has a relaxed, story-driven feel.
Mike talks about years of sleepless nights, panic attacks and living with a constant sense that "the earth was going to fall out". For a long time, he just thought, "this was a part of who I was". Things shift when his wife stages what he calls an intervention, telling him plainly, "you need help".
With her support, he finally seeks professional help and starts EMDR therapy – which he describes as "one of the hardest therapies" he has ever done. Over a year and a half, he works through each traumatic experience, not as the terrified child he once was, but as the man in his fifties he is today.
That reframing helps him reach a place where he can say, "okay, that happened", while also grounding himself in the present – safe at home, surrounded by pets, recording a podcast. One striking moment comes when his therapist tells him his history is among the "top four worst cases of childhood PTSD" she has seen in over twenty years.
Instead of using that to dramatise things, Mike uses it to drive home his main message: "Let's stop being ashamed of mental illness. Let's stop being ashamed of post-traumatic stress disorder." The tone stays warm, slightly self-deprecating and full of hope, especially for anyone who thinks they should be "the one that should be like... helping people" and therefore doesn’t deserve support themselves.
It’s a gentle reminder that recovery and therapy are ongoing, and that needing extra help doesn’t cancel out all the progress already made. If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s too late or too much to ask for help, this conversation might have you rethinking that completely.
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.