The case of the confident dog that developed PTSD | Gill Straker and Jacqui Winship

Helping Darling to relax has been vital - but unlike a human, she isn't dealing with the ethical and cognitive issues often involved in post-traumatic stress

• The modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work

The word trauma has been so overused that it can sound meaningless.

Yet there are profound effects on the body and mind following exposure to traumatic events. Our capacity to cope becomes overwhelmed and we feel helpless as the limbic system, which is the part of the brain associated with fight flight and freeze, goes into overdrive.