E 365: You Can Heal After Trauma: PTSD, Self-Compassion & Finding Yourself Again with Rachel Buckmaster

What if healing from trauma isn't about becoming the person you were before it happened, but learning to understand and have compassion for the person you are today?

In this episode of Adult Child of Dysfunction, I sit down with Rachel Buckmaster for an honest conversation about living with PTSD and what healing has actually looked like for her.

Rachel was diagnosed with PTSD at 18 and has spent years working through her experiences with therapy, self-awareness, and more recently EMDR.

But this conversation isn't about pretending that healing makes everything disappear.

We talk about what happens when trauma shows up as perfectionism, overworking, shame, isolation, difficulty slowing down, and that constant feeling that you have something to prove.

Rachel also shares one of the biggest lessons she's learned: sometimes being gentler with yourself actually helps you move forward more than constantly pushing yourself to "do better."

In this episode, we talk about:

• What PTSD can look like beyond the stereotypical flashback

• Why trauma can stay with us long after the event is over

• Rachel's experience with EMDR

• How shame can fuel perfectionism and overworking

• Why high-functioning doesn't always mean someone is okay