Your Diagnosis Is Not Your Destiny: How Trauma, Functional Seizures, and RTT Can Help You Rebuild Your Life After Divorce or Heartbreak
Most people talk about “starting over after divorce” as if it’s a neat, simple reset. But anyone who has lived through divorce, emotional abuse, gaslighting, or trauma knows the truth: starting over is messy, emotional, and deeply personal.
In this week’s episode of Bent Not Broken, I sat down with Samantha Mandell—an RTT practitioner, podcast host, and trauma survivor whose story is a powerful reminder that even when life feels broken, you can rebuild your identity, reclaim your life, and rise stronger than divorce.
Her journey began with something completely unexpected: seizures that looked like epilepsy but weren’t epilepsy at all.
When Your Body Shuts Down: The Hidden Connection Between Trauma & Physical Symptoms
Samantha was diagnosed with PNES—psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, also known as functional seizures. These seizures are not caused by electrical issues in the brain, but by unprocessed trauma, stress, and emotional overload.
This is trauma stored so deeply that the body finally says:
“I can’t hold this anymore.”
For some women, trauma shows up as:
panic attacks
chronic pain
autoimmune flare-ups
shutdown responses
emotional numbness
broken relationships
difficulty parenting after divorce
fear of dating after divorce
anxiety navigating separation
For Samantha, it was seizures. For many women I coach, it’s the emotional exhaustion of life after divorce, gaslighting recovery, or starting over after trauma.
Your body remembers everything your mind tries to survive.
Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT): Healing the Subconscious, Not Just the Symptoms
Samantha discovered Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) during her healing journey. This modality blends hypnotherapy, cognitive techniques, and regression work to reach the root cause of trauma stored in the subconscious mind.
The subconscious holds:
95% of our beliefs
childhood patterns
emotional imprints
reactions to stress
limiting beliefs formed decades ago
This is why so many women stay in broken relationships, repeat painful cycles, or lose themselves in people pleasing and perfectionism.
RTT allows women to:
✨ uncover the origin of limiting beliefs
✨ release guilt, shame, and self-blame
✨ rebuild confidence after divorce
✨ heal broken relationships
✨ shift identity after years of feeling “not enough”
✨ step into boldness and empowerment
✨ create real new beginnings after divorce
One RTT session can often do what years of talking around the pain cannot.
Why Trauma Hits Identity, Relationships & Self-Worth the Hardest
You don’t have to go through a 30-year marriage to a narcissist to lose yourself. Trauma—big or small—often chips away at:
your sense of safety
your confidence
your identity
your ability to trust
your belief in healthy love
your courage to start again
Women who have lived through divorce, gaslighting, emotional abuse, or life after the military often feel:
“I’ll never find love after divorce.”
“Healthy relationships aren’t available to me.”
“I can’t start over after separation.”
“My identity was tied to my marriage.”
“I’m too broken to heal.”
These are not truths—these are beliefs formed in survival mode.
And beliefs can be rewired.
The Moment Change Happens: “You Have to Want It.”
Toward the end of our conversation, Samantha said something that struck me deeply:
“You have to want it. You have to want it bad enough to do the work.”
Healing after divorce, trauma, heartbreak, or gaslighting requires:
honesty
courage
accountability
self-reflection
and the willingness to say: “I don’t want to live like this anymore.”
Change begins the moment a woman chooses herself.
From Perfectionism to Expansion: Letting Yourself Be Human
Both Samantha and I shared how perfectionism almost held us back from starting our podcasts. Like so many women navigating:
post-divorce life
parenting after divorce
rebuilding confidence
finding purpose after divorce
…perfectionism whispers:
“You’re not ready.”
“You’re not good enough.”
“Who are you to do this?”
RTT helps women peel back the layers of conditioning, shame, and fear to find the real version of themselves—the one that’s been waiting underneath the pain.
Healing Is Not One Moment—It’s Layers of Becoming
Samantha describes healing like peeling an onion:
first you peel sadness
then anger shows up
then trust issues rise
then boundaries appear
then your identity begins to rebuild
then confidence returns
Healing after divorce, after trauma, after betrayal—this is deep emotional work, but it is also work that leads to:
✨ post-divorce confidence
✨ emotional independence
✨ financial independence after divorce
✨ mental health restoration
✨ rebuilding identity after divorce
✨ stronger relationships
✨ healthier parenting strategies
✨ thriving after separation
Every layer peeled is progress.
What Samantha Wants Every Woman to Know
If you see yourself in her story, Samantha’s message is simple, strong, and hopeful:
“You’re never broken. There’s always a new you waiting to emerge.”
You can heal your trauma.
You can rebuild after divorce.
You can find new love after heartbreak.
You can reclaim the life you thought you lost.
You can start over—and this time, start bold.
If This Episode Spoke to You… Take the Next Step
You don’t have to figure out divorce healing, pain recovery strategies, or rebuilding identity alone.
Join my Divorce Support Recovery Workshop on Eventbrite for women ready to:
heal from divorce and separation
rebuild confidence
recover from gaslighting
create emotional independence
design a new life after divorce
rise into the strongest version of themselves
You are bent… But you are never broken.