Have you ever experienced a flashback? A flashback is when you feel as if a past traumatic memory is currently occurring in your life. More than intrusive memories alone, flashbacks can bring with them an overwhelming sense of being enveloped in the senses one felt at the actual time of the traumatic event.
For instance, a man who was beaten as a child by his father might experience a flashback when he has a baseball crash through his window in the present day. The crash reminding him of how his father lashed out at him, because one of those thrashings happened after he similarly smashed a baseball into his father’s window. This man’s flashback might cause him to “see” his father’s fist swinging toward his face, to catch a whiff of beer in the air, or to start shaking or running to hide. While decades may have passed from the time this man was a boy with a baseball, his present day body experiences the trauma not as memory but as present threat. Chemical responses in the man’s biology, hormones present at the same time as the initial attacks, go into action as a means of the body preparing to defend itself in a fight-or-flight response, just like they did long ago.
Unfortunately, it is difficult for to avoid sensory triggers such as this because they were encoded into our nervous system at the time of the trauma. With the overwhelming onslaught of sensory information at that time, the full experience could not be thoroughly processed to resolution. At the time, it was much more important for your body to survive rather than figure out how to store the input. As such, these traumatic experiences were not “time-stamped” by the brain as having passed. So, the nervous system continues to be alert for threat that signals the event is still going on and needing to be survived. As a result, flashback sufferers long to know, “Will I ever feel safe?” and “Can I ever get free from this?”
Overcoming Flashbacks
Fortunately, flashbacks are not the end of the story. You are not doomed to relive your trauma for the rest of your life. Here are a few practices you can employ to help keep yourself grounded in the present moment, even in the midst of an overwhelming flashback:
· Categorize: Overall, flashbacks stem from the mind and body struggling to process the enormity of a traumatic event. Categorizing these flashbacks into their proper time and place can be critical to reduce and rid oneself of these flashbacks for good. You can say to yourself, especially out loud, “This is not happening right now. This is a memory. Right now, I am safe.” You can also discuss the event in the past tense, such as saying, “I was assaulted” instead of following the mind’s perspective that this attack is still continuing in the present moment.
· Use Your Senses: In the midst of a flashback, reclaim your assertion of the here and now by focusing on things you can sense around you. Look around the room you're in, look for certain shapes, or count objects of different colors. Touch different textures around you, from soft to rough to hot and cold. Listen to the sounds in your current space, such as birds chirping, people talking, or cars driving by. Grab a favorite scented lotion and focus on the fragrance.
· Use Your Brain for Something Else: Before or during a flashback, think about things that might distract or rein in your thoughts, such as saying the day, date, month, and year, to keep yourself in the present moment. Counting backwards from 100 can also be a suitable technique for keeping your brain active and working in the present while in the midst of a flashback to the past.
Seeking Help From Others
Seeking help from others does not have to be a last resort. Conversing with people you trust, and receiving their support, can help lift the weight of this trauma off of your shoulders. This can come from somebody you know personally, and from someone whose job it is to professionally help you combat the problems you face, such as a trusted therapist or counselor.
Flashbacks are a psychological phenomenon, and processing traumatic memory and anxiety internally can be even more effective than the use of the external coping mechanisms and grounding skills previously mentioned. Therapy techniques such as brainspotting, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), administered by psychotherapy specialists, can help alleviate or even eliminate the effects of trauma and flashbacks.
If you are suffering from the effects of past trauma, such as flashbacks, depression, stress, or anxiety, Omaha Trauma Therapy is here to help! We want to provide you with a holistic approach to overcome your trauma.