Intense flashbacks

[Apricit123]

Does anyone else experience intense flashbacks .

Dissosociation or both having a really hard time mentally and emotionally drained from all this 😞

[Apricit123]

I sure hope so hard to live with these sensations daily 😞 how long did you have yours for did they last all day sometimes?

[Apricit123]

I have spoke to mentla health and lifeline and they only give me strategies to cope, I see a therpist.

I just try to get through the day the best way I know how and I dont have a gp so I have to brave it out.

[Leisa68]

Hi Apricit@@123,

Yes, sometimes they did last all day. I was a mess. However, I have got out and things are much smoother. I hope you can find that promptly too.

Leisa68

[Bob_22]

Hi Apricit@@122

Sorry to read about your continued struggle with anxiety and flashbacks over the last few months. Fortunately I've not experiences any flashbacks or trauma based anxiety but I have experienced panic attacks in response to certain situations. Generally I found, with anxiety based symptoms (I struggled with shallow breathing and intrusive thoughts) that having ready access to a health professional is quite helpful. I know you mentioned that you don't have a GP but I might recommend that you find one which you can connect with and discuss some of the symptoms you're having. There is a directory here under Get support > Find a professional, but I found my GP luckily through word of mouth.

I found having a GP has been helpful in terms of having someone I can access quite readily in case symptoms get out of hand (as opposed to waiting for your therapist appointments). Of course this doesn't mean you shouldn't access the lines you mentioned in a crisis situation, but for me, having someone like a GP I can talk to when physical symptoms get out of hand is reassuring and helped me view things (such as intrusive thoughts) objectively. Hope this can h elp.

Bob 🙂

[Eagle Ray]

Hi Apricit@@123,

I have experienced flashbacks, mostly in terms of physiological response but not as much visually (as I know some people get them). My body keeps re-enacting a mixture of fight-or-flight and freeze responses. I’ve realised that this is how my body is actually trying to protect me even when the original trauma is no longer there.

Understanding that my body is trying to protect me has actually in turn helped my body know that it can let go a bit. In late 2020 and early 2021 I was in a flashback state 24/7. But that has diminished over time. I’m now down to no more than 1-2 hours a day where trauma revisits me in this way.

I’ve found interactions with kind people are one thing that helps to break up the flashback cycle. Those people don’t usually know anything about me experiencing flashbacks, but it is something to do with positive social engagement that helps my body know it is safe. I also find spending time in nature and with animals helps me.

You may have similar or different things that help you, but I think it comes down to the part of the body/brain/nervous system that still thinks it’s perceiving danger knowing that it isn’t. I understand this is hard though, as getting flashbacks too I know they are involuntary and just come upon you.

But you can definitely improve a lot. I feel I’m almost rid of flashbacks now but will possibly still get them from time to time going forwards. But I want you to know it can get better and that it’s possible to feel safe.

One practical thing that can help that I learned about is chanting a low “vooo” sound from your gut and resonating through your whole body. It might sound a bit weird, but it’s like a massage to the body internally that lets it know it’s safe. I’ve found this can be calming and grounding when I’m getting caught in a flashback.

Another thing can be just allowing myself to come back to being present in the space I’m in through my senses. Like right now if I pay attention I can hear the fridge humming and the wind in the trees outside. I can hear a few different bird calls. Through the glass sliding door I am noticing different shades of green on the plants outside and some orange, yellow, lilac and pink flowers. Sometimes just coming back to your senses and naming what you can see, feel, hear, smell and touch can bring you back to the present moment and out of a flashback.

I hope that helps. Take care.

[Apricit123]

Thankyou that is very helpful how long did you have yours if you dont mind me asking ?

[Eagle Ray]

I’m glad that was helpful. The last period of flashbacks were linked to a specific traumatic event. They were very bad for about 2 and a half months, basically the physiology of the trauma repeating continuously in my body. I then found someone who practises a modality called TRE (Trauma Releasing Exercises) which is used for people with PTSD and he combined this with another modality called BWRT (Brain Working Recursive Therapy). Basically this work got my body out of the repeated trauma response. I think it’s taken about a year since then for my body to really ease the flashbacks, but the worst of it went with those therapy approaches back in March last year.

But in mentioning those therapies I’m not necessarily advocating them as I know different things work for different people. I was lucky the guy I worked with was very compassionate and intuitive. I still have some complex trauma that began from early childhood that is a bit harder to treat because it’s so embedded. Also, the above therapies can be quite effective for single incident PTSD but may not always be as successful for complex PTSD where there are multiple incidents of trauma occurring over a period of time, so I’m still working on that stuff.

The strategies I mentioned for coming out of a flashback come from the work of a guy named Peter Levine who developed a method call Somatic Experiencing. I’ve read a couple of his books. It’s about approaching the trauma through the body but in a gentle, gradual way so as not to overwhelm the whole nervous system.

I’ve found that by working in this gentle way with the body it’s possible to learn to self-soothe when experiencing flashbacks. Firstly realising that your body is just trying to protect you, and then observing with curiosity what it is actually doing. Apparently when the curiosity part of the brain engages it disengages the trauma part, that the two can’t operate at the same time.

I think the release of trauma is a gradual process but it can happen. Today I had a Bowen therapy appointment (something else that really helps me). The therapist is very kind so just being with a good person like that is healing. Then I drove to the ocean to watch the sunset. Then I made up my own wordless songs on the way home in the car which was therapeutic. So all those small things were self-care that further helped trauma stuff release from my body. I think it’s just one step at a time and we all have the innate potential to heal. I’m sure you can too 🤗