I know someone who went through an abusive childhood and suffers from complex ptsd. They recently started anti anxiety medication and that has helped temper their fawn/freeze fear response, but it they still live with it.
The biggest surprise for them was that everyone else wasn’t plagued with the same constant fear and anxiety, always trying to placate everyone to avoid confrontation.
I suffer from impaction occasionally and used to irrigate with 2% hydrogen peroxide. The H2O2 reacts with the wax and helps break it up. It is one of the strangest sensations though, bubbles forming and popping en masse inside of your ear canal. Eventually I bought an ear cleaning otoscope and scoop out the wax manually every few months.