I get them like.. I can’t even count how many times per day. Almost every 5 minutes. It’s exasperated by the change in weather mostly I’ve noticed. Or music. Or like scenery/ being places I went to as a kid. Or seeing nostalgic posts on social media. Just wondering how often everyone else experiences them.
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3mo
Yes samee and it really is. And now that the weather is changing I get different emotional flashbacks and it’s just a lot lol. thank you for sharing!
I get them many times per day too, and things like the weather and scents and certain songs or posts online can definitely trigger them even more. It feels like it’s maybe hourly for me where I get a flashback and sometimes it lasts a long while where I will be anxious and the events will play on repeat. Other times though a moment will pop into my head and if I’m lucky, and have someone around who can help distract me, then it wont linger too long or ruin the whole day
Ya you worded that perfectly thank you
Every time I shower, or am alone for a longer period of time… I start to spiral. I need to constantly find something to distract myself. I’m comfortable being by myself and feel safe that way, but at the same time that’s when my thoughts go into dark places. I get flashbacks in the form of nightmares every week or so.
Omg yes same. Showering I alwaysss fall into it. It’s also bad right before bed. Yes distraction is the most important thing for me I learned in a rlly good therapy group I was fortunate enough to be accepted in (idk if that’s a good thing actually lmao) but they said for people with CPTSD it’s very important to stay distracted. It was hard to hear bc it can be exhausting sometimes. But I mean it does get better with practice but ya I think for me it’ll be the reality.
Mindfulness has helped a bit like when I used to meditate I’d “see” the thought and actively say stop and try to focus back on my breathing. In real life after meditating I notice I used to look past certain thoughts. It’s hard n definitely takes practice. I haven’t meditated in quite a while so I’ll have to get back into it again. But I relate to everything you just said.
Meditation is something I’m trying to get into also, although I need to do it with light music and not complete silence. I wish you all the best in the recovering journey!
Samesies, dude. Gotta watch it with social media cause if I see police brutality or some poor Palestinian getting fucked over I start punching the air. Heart racing, rage emotions. It’s intense. Super weird overreactions, man.
I have to avoid certain places cause I won’t be able to focus on anything else other than the flashbacks. They’re intense
Honestly don't know whether something is a flashback or not, it has kind of blended in into the background but it does happen several times a day, usually accompanied with some kind of sharp pain in my back and feelings of dread and impending doom washing over me. I don't usually know what triggers them, they just randomly appear.
I feel like it’s 24/7 except for a few moments I find a funny video or something
All the time.. I moved back to the north east (which is where I spent my childhood).. not the same region.. but I get them all the time when I am outside.. it kind of freaks me out.
I'm considering moving to a different region in the next few years because of this.
I get so mad everyday bc of it . Then filled with grief, sadness
I get them all the time, everyday. Different periods of my life. When the anniversary of a traumatic event comes up I tend to spiral for a few days to several weeks living the trauma over and over again. So much so that it makes me feel unsafe and that that person will either come back to hurt me again or that it will happen again with someone else. I get paranoid of friends or strangers. It’s really hard and I’ve been working on working through it and trying to ground myself. The weather also has s huge impact as they truly were seasons of different things I had been through. Late summer and fall/winter are really hard for me.
I want to learn how to deal with these flashbacks better. Thanks everyone for sharing it helps.
I didn't know what they were until a couple of years ago, after I've had two decades to heal.
These days I have so much "new life" to keep my occupied that I don't have to think about "old life" unless I want to.
That said though, I realise that I've been metering my exposure to friends, movies and music from my old life so that I don't get overwhelmed by emotion, as an emotional flashback can strike seemingly randomly.
I think I get them more often than I realize, still struggling to recognize when they’re happening
Not only emotional flashbacks but also dream flashbacks while I’m awake.
Every day most of the time. But particularly horrible when I lose an object, or miss a deadline. If I look down a staircase, if I smile too hard, if someone asks for a hug. It’s rough man I get it.
If we're classifying an emotional flashback as intrusive thoughts or images that suddenly cause uncontrollable tears and cognitive narrowing, plus fight/flight/freeze/fawn response at inopportune times, then I get them only a couple times a week. If I'm going through a tough patch and I'm super stressed, they can happen daily.
But I've done a lot of therapy, inner work and psychedelics to get them under control or to at least notice when they are coming on so I can do the proper breath work and mental reframing to prevent myself from spinning out.
May I ask, how old are you and how much therapy have you done to address these emotional flashbacks? Once every 5 minutes is simply too much. There's no way you'd get anything done if they happen that often.
That’s good you found something that helps! I’m 26 and have had therapy basically my whole life but I haven’t had it in 3 years due to not being able to afford it. And this past year was the hardest in my adulthood. And I don’t think it’s fair to say I wouldn’t be able to get anything done since you don’t know my exact symptoms or personality. I do zone out and have other symptoms but I’m also extremely task oriented and always enter a flow state when I’m working. But sometimes I do blank out n spiral into an entire flashback for an hour at most usually. But my emotional flashbacks usually last 5 mins and i just freeze, have that thought, have usually cry and internal dialogue, and have a desperate want to be a kid again. Maybe I’ll remember a memory. Ur explaining something much more in depth. But I mean u can’t rlly say I can’t stuff done. U don’t know how I personally handle them or how they impact me.
Just to add on, if I have a split second of silence I will have these thoughts. I went to this very good therapy program that taught the biggest thing for us will be distractions n it’s really true in my experience. If I’m not distracted this happens. If I am distracted, I’m perfectly fine. But again, i don’t think it’s right to assume someone can’t get stuff done before you know how the handle it or how it effects them.
Fair, I didn't mean to downplay or prescribe anything. You're right, I don't know the details of your situation or trauma. I'm trying to empathize but perhaps I'm projecting because if I were falling into freeze response every five minutes, I personally would never get anything done. I can't even imagine. Sorry you're going through a rough patch right now. You aren't alone.
Can you please explain more about what you’ve done with psychedelics? I see this everywhere and am flummoxed. Feel free to PM if needed.
Sure, for some context: I grew up in a religious cult, me and lot of other kids experienced way too much physical, psychological, and sexual abuse from ages 12 - 18. I finally left the cult when I turned 22.
I first started experimenting with psychedelics when I was 25 or so. I was trying to understand the bottomless pain, fear and toxic shame I felt ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Hypervigilance, scrupulosity, moral injury, toxic doubt, self-abandonment. All the things. It was so pitch black dark.
I tried DMT (4x), LSD (8x), MDMA (4x). I did those drugs more therapeutically and intentionally than recreationally, and only after a lot of research and premediation. I began to understand my patterns, my hang ups, my coping mechanisms, and the nature of my abuse more deeply. My main problem was I was angry, confused, tired, and sad all the time but didn't want to get dependent on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds, so I self-medicated with cannabis for about 7 years, while nursing a less than ideal relationship with alcohol. Learning and practicing meditation helped me survive this period of my life.
When I turned 33, I got my alcohol addiction under control and at 34, I experimented intensively with mushrooms and cannabis (through a self-care or spiritual lens). Grew my own supply and experimented on my own, reinforcing my insights with CBT and DBT integration. At 35, I did a season of ketamine-assisted talk therapy with sexual trauma integration group. This changed my life. Learned how to reparent myself and claim my body and mind back with breath-work, inner work, self-care, self-love, and radical hope.
When they started I would get them throughout the day. Now it’s very rare if I am exposed to triggers. I am aware of my triggers so I try to stay away from them as much as I can. So it’s very occasional. But I have also been going to therapy for awhile now. There were times when I went twice or thrice in a week because I couldn’t function without it. I also moved away from my family and hometown so that definitely helped too. But fourth year in the therapy if it gives you an idea.
Until I learned the term “emotional flashback “ I had a hard time even identifying with PTSD at times. I don’t get “anxiety attacks”, I set up shop. I wasn’t able to identify with symptoms, because “symptoms” made up my existence. I spent a lot of time alone in my youth and developed a running “movie/life narrative” that I understood as interpreting life, turns out it was coping. I don’t know what other people’s recovery looks like, hell half the time I question my own. Today I am more aware of when my brain is out to lunch or if I am present in a room. A lot of times I can breathe my way into a room. If I am honest with my though, I would be willing to believe the better part of any day is spent being in an emotional flashback, or dealing with one.
I spent a lot of time alone in my youth and developed a running “movie/life narrative” that I understood as interpreting life, turns out it was coping
Could you elaborate more on this (if you're comfortable) because I mightttt be doing this too...
I also struggle to identify what emotional flashbacks are and when/if they are happening to me
Certainly. It really for me began very young. I would have fantasies or “delusions of grandeur”. Often my thoughts would center around how many friends I had, or how tough, attractive, pick a characteristic… I was. I didn’t really have imaginary friends, but more a detached imaginary world behind my eyes. In my teens that make believe world became what was more palatable and acceptable for me to believe. I created a world where I was strong enough to do everything alone. It’s now some 20+years later that I have some clarity. I think I imagined a perfect life. A life where there wasn’t constant pain. A life where perfect people didn’t get hurt. This imagination bled into my real existence, and those are my “coping/defense mechanisms.” I am very paranoid, I have deep distrust for people close to me. I still find it easier to live in my head, isolate, and see the world as very threatening. At times I still live alone in that place. For me it exists because at a time I needed that place, in my head. It was a place I was important. I am very aware it doesn’t exist, it’s not real, but it’s my felt existence. It’s what I know. I’m learning to manage not living there. At the same time, I think it’s the closest I feel to home. So it’s nice to be able to access. I hope my rant made sense! Enjoy🤙
Interesting. I guess for me, sometimes I feel like I'm watching my life on a TV or something. Like I don't feel that I'm really "in it," it's just stuff that happens around me. And I often sit back and analyze my life like I would a TV show, trying to figure out what was behind a character's words or how relationship dynamics are working, but all very detached from any of my own emotion or action. So a bit different, but both definitely sound like different sides of the dissociation coin lol.
Oh yeah, I absolutely go down plot dissection of the other characters intent in this story! I have a difficult time accepting face value and spend time “interpreting”. I also detach in the viewing sense. So I guess I didn’t look at that side too. It’s complicated to say the least. But hey if you got it and I got it, I’m not alone and nor are you. So that’s cool. Unless this is all a figment….enter a whole new rabbit hole!
Few times a day some times, sometimes I'll get a few days or so week!
I have been trapped in them since childhood. I didn't even know until I started reading Pete Walker's Complex PTSD From Surviving to Thriving. I have started snapping out of them since I learned that they exist. I'm finally feeling a little hopeful for the future. I'm not very far into the book though because I'm afraid to be triggered. I've noticed that I have an extremely limited sense of smell when I'm in a flashback. When I'm out, everything smells so strong! I can actually smell coffee when I'm outside of a flashback and it's almost overpowering! The hallway of my apartment building has a musty smell, sort of like old wood. When I go for my daily walk I can actually smell the pine trees. I can even smell food cooking from the restaurant down the street.
I try to focus on my senses to pull me out when I'm in a particularly bad flashback. I also repeat to myself "I'm safe now, I'm having a flashback, I never have to go back there, it's over, I'm free, my life is my own," things of that nature, and it's been really helpful. I still have near constant emotional flashbacks, but they are becoming easier to recognize. Sometimes just recognizing them is enough to make them shorter and less intense.
I was actually just listening to this on Spotify yesterday! Yes I’m very sensitive to smells too. It’s interesting you notice the strong scents once you’re out because you’re not in like a trance anymore. That’s very good you use it for grounding. I love the smell of fresh cold air lol it’s refreshing. Yes saying “I’m safe” when I realize it’s happening helps me as well. That’s something I realized only a couple years ago like wait I’m not there anymore it’s ok. I think it’s amazing everything you’ve been doing :)
I love the smell of fresh cold air too :) thank you, I'm trying my best! Wishing you peace and healing
I've never had any.
I used to get them constantly in the past, they hit me when something does trigger it. But recently I have been having zero and I'm concerned either my brain is blocking it or idk?
During times of stress or when dates are mentioned or I have to go to certain places,, so each day during work - working from home helps hide it a lot. But for w/e reason, it happens every night. I'll wake up suddenly in sweats (regardless of attire and bedding). I haven't sleep more than 4-5 hours a night for over a year now.
For me it's a few times a week now. At one stage it was as though just being alive and conscious was a trigger. I couldn't tolerate a thing. There is a sense of pre-flashback that I feel and so I can head it off provided the environment hasn't caught me by suprise. See if you can detect the build up to one and that will better position you to head off some of the response. Shopping centers are the worst because of the music they play. I can feel myself tense up afraid of what the next track might be, so often I have headphones with me in case I'm not feeling so resilient today. Weather changing is a big one for me as well.
Emotional flashback? About once every half a year approximately? Emotional reactions that originate in my trauma? About daily.
It depends. Some times daily then I'll go a few weeks being ok.... it's definitely getting more manageable
Often enough that it keeps me mostly depressed. It lessens over time as I form new memories for those places, songs, words even… I don’t think I’m past things feeling barren though.
YES I keep trying to explain this to my therapist. She’s pretty understanding but it’s like. 80-90 or more per day.
Many times every day. It's hard to understand why I am triggered because I am just getting emotions.
When I'm not busy.
didn't even realize this was a thing that happens, been looking for a word to describe it
Depending on the circumstances, weekly to daily.
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it depends on the situation, when I'm alone it happens way less, it can be triggered by smells or music, but most often it happens when I'm around other people.
Not as often anymore. I've healed a lot But I'd say every 2 days. Much better than having th3m every hour.
honestly I've learned a lot about this trauma stuff within the past year or so, and when I think abt it I've been in a constant flashback state for most of my life (I'm 21). It also got much worse when I started university in 2021. The periods of time when I'm in a much clearer headspace last from 1 hour to maybe 2 days if I rly stay on top of my mental health. Otherwise my mental health on a typical day is me constantly going back and forth between triggered and happy on a minutely basis.
Multiple times a day for sure.
Very frequently, it took me a long time to recognise them as flashbacks. It's silly but I always had the impression that a PTSD flashback would be like a movie of the traumatic event playing in front of your eyes, I guess from media depictions.
In its mildest form it's kind of like how sometimes it "feels like" a Thursday when it's actually Tuesday, but instead of days of the week it's phases of your life. It "feels like" you're 13 and tense with dread because there is always someone about to violate your boundaries in one way or another, but you're actually 30 and have your own space and autonomy.
I thought the same. I knew it was something but no one ever told me about emotional flashbacks. Since I found that out things made a lot more sense.
Apparently CPTSD is mostly emotional flashbacks and PTSD is mostly visual flashbacks. Pretty interesting