What Are PTSD Flashbacks Like?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after traumatic experiences. PTSD creates several symptoms, but the most common is flashbacks.

While most people have a working idea of what flashbacks are, many people don’t actually understand what’s going on or what it feels like.

In this article, we’ll talk about what flashbacks are, what triggers them, and how to manage them.

What Are Flashbacks

PTSD flashbacks occur when you re-live traumatic experiences. It isn’t just remembering something that happened to you. It feels like you’re experiencing the moment again.

These can occur at any moment and are often unexpected. One moment you’re enjoying the sunshine, and the next you’re reliving a traumatic event.

What Happens During a Flashback?

When you experience a flashback, your brain is reliving traumatic memories. This happens because the traumatic memories aren’t stored properly. 

Think of your brain as a filing cabinet. Typical memories are nicely tucked away. However, due to the difficult nature of trauma, those memories are not tucked away. They’re haphazardly thrown into the cabinet. Not fully put away, sticking out, hard to ignore.

Because those memories haven’t been fully put away, or processed, they’ll resurface more often.

What Do Flashbacks Feel Like?

When a flashback occurs, you’ll feel like you’re living through the traumatic event again. It goes beyond remembering what happened. You’ll likely experience the emotional and physical sensations you felt during the trauma.

For example, if you are experiencing flashbacks of a car accident, you may feel chest pains from where the seat belt dug into your shoulder. As well as a sudden adrenaline hit as your body enters fight or flight.

It’s also not rare to experience other symptoms such as:

• Seeing images associated with the trauma
• Hearing sounds associated with the trauma
• Smelling scents associated with the trauma
• Sweating
• Racing heartbeat
• Heightened senses

After the flashback, it’s common for people to feel confused about what happened. Some people dissociate during flashbacks so they may not remember much about the flashback and may feel the flashback was like watching a movie.

Does All Trauma Cause Flashbacks?

Not all trauma will cause flashbacks. It often comes down to whether or not the trauma can be processed on its own without help.

Some traumatic experiences, such as minor car accidents, can be processed without professional help and in a short time. This means you’re less likely to experience flashbacks.

Other experiences, like complex trauma, require professional help and time to process and will likely cause flashbacks.

Whether or not trauma will cause flashbacks is dependent on who you are.

What Triggers Flashbacks

Flashbacks can occur at random times. However, most PTSD flashbacks are triggered by things that remind you of the trauma.

These can be subtle, or major:

• Scents
• How someone talks to you including tone and words
• Physical sensations
• Locations
• Time of year

Anything that reminds you of the traumatic event can trigger flashbacks.

How to Manage PTSD Flashbacks?

If you’re experiencing PTSD flashbacks often, it’s recommended you get professional help to process your traumatic memories correctly. 

While in therapy, you’ll work on coping skills to help regulate emotions during flashbacks. This usually includes grounding and soothing techniques. These strategies are important for trauma reprocessing, as they help manage the effects of flashbacks.

Grounding Techniques

Flash backs take you out of the current moment. Grounding techniques bring you back to the present moment.

At the heart of grounding is mindfulness, which means tuning into your current sensations and thoughts.

Examples of grounding techniques include:

• Deep Breathing: Focus your attention on breathing deep and pay attention to the sensation of air entering and exiting your body.
• Touch and Observe Items Near Your: Answer simple questions about the objects you can see and touch. Are they hard or soft? What color are they? Are there any imperfections?
• Movement: Going for walks and mindful movement exercises can help ground you by focusing your thoughts on what the movement feels like.
• Listen to Your Surroundings: All senses can be used for grounding. Stop to listen to the sounds that are around you.
• Body Scanning: Body scanning is a technique that tracks feelings throughout the body. Start from your head and think about what you feel in different parts of your body.

Practice Self-Talk

Talking to yourself helps reinforce what you know to be true even if it doesn’t feel real.

During a flashback, you can use self-talk to reassure yourself that the traumatic event isn’t actually happening again. This might feel awkward to you, but you can try using it before  a flashback to get more comfortable with it.

Seek Professional Help

Dealing with flashbacks on your own can feel impossible. Mental health professionals are dedicated to providing healing treatment to those who need it.

When you seek professional help for PTSD, you’ll learn coping skills and address your traumatic memories in a safe, controlled environment.

PTSD Flashback Treatment at Sequoia Behavioral Health

At Sequoia Behavioral Health, we offer holistic treatment that addresses symptoms and the root cause.

If you’re dealing with addiction, you may have some unresolved trauma. When receiving treatment at Sequoia Behavioral Health, you’ll spend time learning coping skills for flashbacks while addressing and processing the traumatic memory.

‍Learn if Sequoia Behavioral Health is for you by contacting us.