One of the key symptoms and struggles in PTSD is flashbacks. A type of flashback unique to Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) are emotional flashbacks. Emotional flashbacks are sudden regressions to feelings of the past, such as severe fear or a sense of abandonment. When flashbacks go unmanaged, the survivor can be lost in their emotions and memories, dissociate, panic, and otherwise become limited or dysfunctional. When you’re having a flashback, try the steps below.

Flashback Management

The starting point is to identify the flashback for what it is. What you’re experiencing is remanence of the past. You are no longer in that situation and you have new tools to manage these sensations.

1. Say to yourself: “I’m having a flashback.”

You are no longer in the past or in that situation. You are safely in the present.

2. Remind yourself: “I feel afraid but I am not in danger.”

Remind yourself that you have the right to have boundaries, to speak up when someone mistreats you, and to leave dangerous situations.

3. Reenforce your boundaries.

In this moment, it may be helpful to envision speaking to your younger self. Reassure them that you love them unconditionally and that they can come to you for comfort and protection.

4. Speak reassuringly to yourself.

The pain and emotions you experienced in the past might’ve felt endless, especially in this moment, but remember that it will past.

5. Deconstruct eternity thinking.

Remind yourself that you’re in an older body with new allies, skills, tools, and resources to protect and support you. What happened to you won’t happen again.

6. Remind yourself of your present.

Fear can launch us into a numb, spaced out state. It’s time to ease back into your body by:<ol><li>Gently asking your body to relax;</li><li>Breathing deeply and slowly;</li><li>Finding a quiet safe place to relax. Items like a blanket or stuffed animal can be soothing and grounding;</li><li>Feeling the fear without reacting to it. Fear is just another energy in your body when it’s not ignored or acted upon.</li></ol>

7. Ease back into your body.

When faced with bouts of negative emotion, it’s easy for the mind to exaggerate the feelings of abandonment and danger. It may begin to spiral down a path of negative thinking or react to danger that isn’t there. Refuse to shame, hate, or abandon yourself. Combat unfair self-criticism by saying no or refuting. Replace negative thinking with a list of your positive qualities and achievements.

8. Resist exaggerated thinking.

Flashbacks reveal old wounds; feelings of hurt and fear that might’ve gone unnoticed all these years. Allow yourself to grieve, to feel these feelings and validate them as they come. Healthy grieving can turn anguish into self compassion and anger into self protection.

9. Allow yourself to grieve.

Build healthy and safe relationships. Inform trusted people in your life about your flashbacks and what they can do to help you. Take some time alone if you need it, but don’t let shame isolate you.

10. Build a support system.

What prompts your flashbacks? Is it a specific smell, sound, taste, texture, or object? Is it a specific person or character trait people may have? Whatever the case may be, it’s important to identify these triggers and avoid them whenever possible.

11. Learn to identify triggers.

Despite having flashbacks, people with C-PTSD may not remember their trauma. Flashbacks are a chance to discover old wounds, unmet needs, and unaddressed damages. Take some time to explore what you’re flashing back to, what it means, and how it makes you feel.

12. Discover what you’re flashing back to.

Don’t beat yourself up for having a flashback. Recovery from a flashback is a slow process that requires a level of self compassion and patience that may initially be hard to cultivate. Take your time and let yourself be slowly pulled out of it.

13. Be patient with yourself.

As the year draws to a close, one of the most useful things I’ve learned this year is how to manage my flashbacks. I wanted to share these here in case anyone else might need them!

Pete Walker M.A., MFT Therapy for and recovery from childhood trauma, abuse and/or neglect, in the East Bay

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Pete Walker, M.A. Psychotherapy

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