Baxter was horrified, afraid, and helpless before the power of the corporation to take away her livelihood and reputation without due process and without apparent regret^{Endnote 14}. She felt betrayed not only by her supervisor, but also by all the company’s management^{Endnote 15}. In being asked to return to the department where she had once felt respected by her co-workers, she felt humiliated and ashamed that these former co-workers might think her termination justified. All her definitions for herself as a businessperson— effective, exacting, team-oriented, and respected worker—were shattered. On a more practical, physical survival level, she worried about how she would make house payments, clothe her children, and afford medical care her doctor said she needed after her termination benefits ran out. She was rejected as unfit by her employer of over 30 years. Who would hire her?

After leaving the company in distress, Baxter could not think of looking for work, let alone think of working, without panicking. In our interviews, she talked about continuing to drive miles out of her way to avoid passing her former place of employment. She is uncomfortable in conversations with former co-workers and sometimes still avoids them. Even though she has not accepted interview and job offers from other divisions in her former company, she has applied for work elsewhere. Several years later, however, Baxter is not employed outside the home, and she insists she will never work for the corporate headquarters of her former employer. Baxter’s PTSD left her vulnerable in other ways that I was not: On September 11, 2001, when New York’s Twin Towers were destroyed by terrorists, I was horrified, but Baxter felt again the overwhelming emotions experienced the day she drove home from work crying—as though “the whole world had gone mad” (personal communication, February 7, 2005). She confided that all progress she made after losing her job was “wiped away” in hearing of the attacks.