Learning from Trauma

Is it fair to say that the brain can build on traumatic memories, preventing a person from taking actions that could allow them to heal themselves, as discussed in episode 510: The secret to lifelong happiness | Bestselling author Morgan Housel and the clip Processing Loss? For example, I produced a huge activation, which was the largest success of my career, that opened on my mother's birthday. Two weeks later, she died in her sleep. Now, when I attempt to work on large, challenging projects like this one, I can start the process creatively but have great trouble following through on distributing it to people who could help me execute it. Is that a fair analysis of how my mind is perceiving my actions as leading to a similar tragic outcome?