Christchurch resident Anne Malcolm knows all about anxiety - her years as a counsellor meant she had all the tools at her disposal to help clients who were suffering from the disorder in the wake of the September earthquake.
But nothing could prepare her for her own troubling experience with the illness, just weeks after she was pulled from the rubble of the collapsed CTV building, which claimed the lives of 116 people and left her with extensive injuries.
"For the first six or seven weeks I didn't go back to the trauma.
"Then when my physical body began to be restored I was almost out of left field ambushed by what I know now as post-traumatic stress. I couldn't sleep. I absolutely couldn't sleep.
"I had a very obvious deep seated anxiety which my head couldn't control. I kept saying to myself ... 'you can get on top of this, you've been a counsellor for years'.