@twizzay Would you say that the "inability to overcome" could be seen as trauma, in the sense of "feeling helpless in the face of a grave danger"?
It would fit well with what my (amateur) experiences with similar things are. Like affirmation tells you you can relax, but that is connected to the helplessness before? Your last paragraph sounds very much like that.

I wonder if specific affirmation, constricted to one topic and "up to now" being adequate would be any different?