“I want to thank you for your advice, Bill. My weavile has been training more than she usually does, especially sparring with both her mate and my first mawile, and I’ve noticed a decrease in her bouts with PTSD. She and my daughter have been registered in the Ferrum League battles, and she’s been enjoying her battles, as well as bonding with my daughter. Thank you very much” – Jett

You’re very welcome. It’s certainly great to hear that your weavile is doing much better. May her condition continue to improve, and may her bond with your daughter continue to grow. —Bill

Greetings professor Bill. I’ve had a Weavile for several years now, and she was abused and abandoned by another trainer prior to my meeting her. While she’s overall calm now, and even has her own mate, a kind and caring Mawile, I noticed that she seems to have a mild form of PTSD, having nightmares and such about her former trainer. Her mate and I have helped her calm down each time, but I would like to know if you have any advice on reducing these episodes she has.

-Dr. Jett Onarius

Bill: Other than what you likely already know (that affection, consistent routines, the utmost care, and perhaps an anxiety collar are all wonderful tools for treating PTSD in pokémon), there is actually one other key that many people tend to forget about: training.

This may sound a bit backwards, given the fact that you’re putting a pokémon in situations where it is being routinely attacked, but studies have shown that allowing a pokémon to battle alongside a trainer who understands its needs and limits greatly decreases stress. Some formerly abused and abandoned pokémon may even find that their nightmares and other PTSD-related symptoms disappear after constant battling under the command of a good trainer. (I recall specifically the cases of a charmander, a chimchar, and a tepig, all of whom faced traumatic experiences before a good friend of my colleague and mentor Professor Oak had found them. The good friend, that is. Although Professor Oak currently looks after the infernape and pignite. They’re both quite charming.)

Of course, there are reasons for this. To a pokémon, a battle can be fun, so long as the trainer doesn’t push their team too hard. It’s also fantastic exercise and an opportunity for the pokémon to interact with others without needing to socialize necessarily. Moreover, it’s an excellent way to form a bond between a trainer and a pokémon, which helps rebuild that pokémon’s trust in humans as well as allowing them to regrow their abilities to connect with others on a general level. Not only that, but it also permits a pokémon, even just for a while, to forget about anything that could be causing them stress outside of the battlefield. (Not to mention it is an excellent outlet for pent-up aggression.)

Naturally, you don’t want to start this weavile off with intense battles against experienced trainers, nor do you have to give her up, either. Have her begin with light sparring matches against her mate or any other pokémon you have on hand, then work from there. Find increasingly difficult opponents for her until either the nightmares and other possible symptoms go away or until she runs out of opponents. If she would like to continue training, then you should go over options with her—including, if you’re willing, embarking on a journey to further her studies or allowing her and her mate to part ways with you under the care of a new trainer.

I wish you the best of luck, Dr. Onarius. It may take time and patience, but with the right combination of care, you should be able to give her the relief she needs.

Please do Sneasel and Weavile, Bill.

Certainly!

Sneasel
The Sharp Claw Pokémon
Type: Dark/Ice
Official Registration #: 215
Entry: In Johtonian folklore, there is a creature called the kamaitachi, which was originally depicted as an invisible beast or whirlwind that lacerated hapless wanderers, leaving deep but painless wounds. Later research uncovered the fact that these demons were actually teams of sneasel that used Icy Wind to startle victims shortly before sneaking up on them to take them down. It goes without saying that this is yet another reason why Johtonians inherently possess an innate urge to set fire to everything within reach.

Weavile
The Sharp Claw Pokémon
Type: Dark/Ice
Official Registration #: 461
Entry: The evolved form of sneasel, by battle experience if holding a razor claw at night. Upon evolution, weavile become far more intelligent. Not only they have the ability to communicate through written language (which they carve on boulders in their territory to communicate with other weavile), but they also have the ability to coordinate and strategize, which they do in small but lethal groups. This would be unfortunate for Johtonians, except we had the foresight to gather all of our razor claws and export them to Sinnoh under the guise of a diplomatic gift. This, as expected, did not improve Johtonian-Sinnohian relations, and because we have subsequently recognized this as a jerk move, Johtonians as a whole didn’t put up much of a fight when Sinnoh built the Battle Frontier and exported to our region something worse than weavile: tourists.