How To Help Someone Having Ptsd Flashbacks

You Are Not Going Crazy

How to deal with emotional flashback symptoms from complex PTSD

Remember that flashbacks are a common symptom for people who have experienced trauma. You are not going crazy. Something bad happened to you and has left a lasting impression in your brain. These grounding skills are a great way to cope with flashbacks but the best way to prevent them is to get professional help. The fact that you are experiencing flashbacks is a sign that you are struggling to cope with the traumatic event you experienced.

Where Can I Find More Information On Ptsd

The National Center for PTSD, a program of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is the leading federal center for research and education on PTSD and traumatic stress. You can find information about PTSD, treatment options, and getting help, as well as additional resources for families, friends, and providers.

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Emotional Flashbacks: What They Feel Like And How To Cope With Them

If youve ever had a flashback, youll know how disorientating and terrifying it can be. Flashbacks are known to be a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder where the person can literally see and hear the traumatic event as if it were happening again right now. Yet there is also a kind of flashback that may not include visual or auditory aspects, and instead is more of a feeling as though thrown back into the threatening circumstances from childhood.

Emotional flashbacks are often associated with a diagnosis of complex trauma, or c-ptsd. Complex trauma can occur from ongoing adverse childhood conditions, including abuse, neglect or abandonment especially if the perpetrator was close to the child . Complex trauma symptoms can also develop if the childs parents were busy or emotionally unavailable. It can feel traumatic for children not to receive regular, consistent, unconditional love when they want and need it and this can create attachment issues that play out in adulthood.

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How To Handle Ptsd Flashbacks When They Happen

Its important to first realize that flashbacks are not a re-experiencing of the event, but, rather a very vivid memory something that happened in the past. No matter how real it feels, flashbacks are not trauma happening in the current moment flashbacks are symptoms of PTSD only.

To help remind yourself that the trauma is past and that youre safe in the present, changing the verb tense of how youre thinking or speaking can be helpful. It sounds simplistic but saying, I was attacked, rather than, Im being attacked, can actually make a big difference to how a flashback feels.

It is also very important to connect with your body and the current moment when coping with a flashback. This is called grounding.

According to the Manitoba Trauma Information and Education Centre, the following are ways to ground yourself to help deal with PTSD flashbacks:

Name the experience as a flashback
Use language that categorizes the flashbacks as a memory
Use the senses to ground yourself in your current environment:
Name what you see, feel, hear, smell and taste
Rub your hands together
Touch, feel the chair that is supporting you
Wiggle your toes
Remember your favorite color and find three things in the room that are that color
Name the date, month, year and season
Count backward from 100

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Remember Youre Safe Now

Simply knowing youre having a flashback can help you feel a little safer, but a reminder never hurts.

You can remind yourself that youre safe and secure by repeating things like:

Im afraid, but Im safe.
Its over. I made it through.
Im safe at home. Im not in danger.
These memories are painful, but they cant hurt me.

If you have a difficult time remembering these calming phrases while in the grip of a flashback, consider jotting down a few reminder statements after the flashback passes.

Practicing them ahead of time can help you learn to reach for them automatically during a flashback.

If safety mantras dont help you feel more secure, try boosting your sense of security by:

holding or stroking your pet
grabbing your favorite blanket and curling up under it
locking your bedroom door

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Breathe Slow And Deep

The feelings of stress and fear triggered by a flashback can tense up your muscles and speed up your heartbeat and breathing. Thats your fight-or-flight response at work.

But hyperventilation, the too-rapid breathing that commonly happens when you feel afraid or panicked, can leave you trying to catch your breath or even feeling as if you cant breathe.

In short, breathing too quickly often only adds to your distress.

Working to control your breathing doesnt just give you something to focus on. Maintaining a steady rhythm of breath can also help you feel calmer and more relaxed.

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Need A Little More Let Me Help You

If you live in New York and are interested in getting started with a therapist who specializes in trauma, Im located in the Scarsdale area of Westchester and would love to work with you! To learn more about me and all the counseling services that I offer, explore my therapy website and feel free to send me an email at .

I want to be sure you are comfortable with this process from start to finish. If you still have insurance and procedural questions after reading this website, I am happy to schedule a free, 15-minute consultation first.

Communication Pitfalls To Avoid

what having a ptsd flashback looks like.

Give easy answers or blithely tell your loved one everything is going to be okay.
Stop your loved one from talking about their feelings or fears.
Offer unsolicited advice or tell your loved one what they should do.
Blame all of your relationship or family problems on your loved one’s PTSD.
Invalidate, minimize, or deny your loved one’s traumatic experience
Give ultimatums or make threats or demands.
Make your loved one feel weak because they aren’t coping as well as others.
Tell your loved one they were lucky it wasn’t worse.
Take over with your own personal experiences or feelings.

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Coping After A Flashback

While you cant always prevent flashbacks, learning to recognize some of the situations that trigger them can make a big difference.

Flashback prompts can include any specific words, sounds, smells, or visual imagery you associate with the trauma you experienced. This will be very unique to you and your experience.

Some examples may be:

If you experienced violence from a former partner, smelling their preferred brand of soap could lead to a flashback.
If your parents shouted at or hurt you after drinking, hearing people raise their voices while drinking might bring forth emotions you experienced as a child.

Keeping a flashback journal can also help, since writing about it afterward could help you identify triggers leading up to it.

Whats more, journaling can also help you pay attention to any changes in recurring flashbacks, such as new emotions or visual details.

How Can I Find Help

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides the NIMHs Help for Mental Illnesses webpage.

If you or someone you know is in immediate distress or is thinking about hurting themselves, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline toll-free at 1-800-273-TALK . You also can text the Crisis Text Line or use the Lifeline Chat on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline website.

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Emotional Flashbacks And The Brain

Chronic exposure to abuse in childhood often leads to the development of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, leaving the victims, now adults, reliving the abuse over again later in life in the form of emotional flashbacks.

The original traumatic events harmed the brains ability to calm down from a potential or perceived danger recognized by an overactive amygdala.

To better understand this reaction, one must first comprehend two parts of the automatic nervous system , the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. More on this interaction below.

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Is This A Flashback

I am not a professional so Im not sure about this, but that sounds like a somatic flashback, where youre physically re-experiencing the trauma in how your body feels, but not necessarily having vivid sensory flashbacks. Ive had that, where Im basically crying on the floor rocking back and forth saying please stop hurting me over and over again and begging for it to stop. Ive been retraumatized recently but it definitely feels like a trauma response from something younger. Im sorry that youre dealing with this. Sending hugs. ?????

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Common Internal Ptsd Triggers

Physical discomfort, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, sickness, and sexual frustration.
Any bodily sensation that recalls the trauma, including pain, old wounds and scars, or a similar injury.
Strong emotions, especially feeling helpless, out of control, or trapped.
Feelings toward family members, including mixed feelings of love, vulnerability, and resentment.

Love Isnt Always Enough

Many people who have relationships with someone with PTSD assume the role of caretaker. At least, this was the case with me.

I wanted to be the one person who didnt abandon D. I wanted to show him love can conquer all and that, with the right person, love could help him reinforce and reinstate a healthy lifestyle.

As heartbreaking as it is to admit, love often doesnt conquer all. This realization came in waves over the three years we were together, mixed with intense feelings of guilt and inadequacy.

Its an illusion, this idea that we can save people, Wen says. Its ultimately their responsibility as an adult to seek help, or to ask for help, even if it isnt their fault that they experienced trauma. We cannot make anyone take the help.

What Is A Flashback

A flashback is a PTSD symptom that involves vividly re-experiencing a traumatic event. These episodes may occur suddenly and unexpectedly in response to a trigger that reminds you of the trauma.

A flashback may be temporary and you may maintain some connection with the present moment. Or you may lose all awareness of what’s going on around you and be taken completely back to your traumatic event.

For example, a rape survivor, when triggered, may begin to smell certain scents or feel pain similar to what they experienced during the assault.

What Does A Ptsd Flashback Feel Like

What It’s Like When You Have a PTSD Flashback

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health disorder that develops in the aftermath a traumatic event. This condition can produce several unsettling symptoms that disrupt your sense of self and your security.

AtKlarity Clinic, our experienced providers help you managePTSD effectively with infusions of ketamine, which can boost the amount ofglutamate, an important neurotransmitter in your brain, to restore healthy brain function.

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How To Cope With Ptsd Flashbacks

During flashbacks, it may be difficult to remember that there is a way to stop it or that you will find relief at some point. You may wonder if you will have flashbacks for the rest of your life. However, you can find a way to cope with flashbacks and get back to your life.

Here are strategies to cope with PTSD flashbacks:1

Impacts Of Ptsd Flashbacks

People who are affected by flashbacks may have difficulty maintaining typical daily routines, such as meeting their own basic personal needs, maintaining healthy relationships and a strong support network, meeting work deadlines, having a steady job, completing school assignments, and studying for tests and exams.

Here are the potential impacts of PTSD flashbacks:1,3

Inability to remember details of the traumatic event as a way of protecting oneself
Difficulty concentrating at work or school
Withdrawing from social interaction
Challenges following a daily routine or schedule
Depressed and/or anxious mood
Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, potential suicidal ideation or suicide attempt
Engaging in self-harm or other risky behaviours that could affect ones well-being and safety
Feeling numb emotionally
Avoiding anything that reminds you of the trauma, including not talking about the event, not going anywhere near where the event occurred, avoiding any activity, person, or environment that reminds you of the trauma
Negative outlook about yourself, other people, and the world
Feeling disconnected from ones social network and less motivated to engage with others
Lack of interest in hobbies and interests
Substance use to avoid dealing with intense emotions surrounding the trauma
Eating disorders as a way to gain control over ones body

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Managing And Preventing Ptsd Flashbacks

Post-traumatic stress disorder can be overwhelming to live with. It can cause you to experience flashbacks, where you repeatedly relive traumatic events that have taken place in the past.

PTSD flashbacks are incredibly disruptive and can feel unpredictable and unmanageable. It is important to remember that there is support available you dont have to live with re-experiencing these painful memories. We have outlined the treatment you can receive at Priory to manage the flashbacks and work towards preventing them from happening in the future.

Talking About The Trauma Can Be Important

Allow the person to talk about what happened, even if they become upset. Just be calm yourself and listen carefully getting upset too doesnt help.
Dont insist on talking if the person doesnt want to. They may need time to be alone with their thoughts. Tell them you are there to listen whenever they feel ready.
Reassure them you care and want to understand as much as possible about what happened to them. They may say you cant possibly understand what they went through and shut you out. If they take this approach, they risk becoming isolated from their support networks. Be patient and see what else you can do to help.
Try to make sure there is someone else they can talk to if they dont want to talk to you about it.
If there are some difficult decisions to be made, talk about the situation with the person and help them to identify the different options. However, dont make the decision for them. Also, if it is only a short time after the traumatic event, suggest that it might be a good idea to wait a little longer before making a decision.

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How To Help Someone With Ptsd

Contributed by Christine Binney

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental health problem that can occur after a traumatic event. It can be hard for people to know how to help someone with PTSD because it is impossible to relate to their experience. If you have a friend or family member who is suffering from PTSD, you know how difficult it is to see your loved ones behavior change. Its important to remember that the person suffering from PTSD doesnt always have control over their behavior, so you should not take their actions personally. While it is a hard journey for all involved, there are ways that you can help get life back to the way it was before the trauma. Here is a short guide on how to help someone with PTSD.

Understand the inner workings of PTSD

Understanding PTSD is the first step towards helping someone recover. PTSD is caused by harrowing ordeals such as a physical assault, sexual violence, a natural disaster, war, an accident or the death of a loved one. When a person is threatened with or suffers serious physical harm or violence, they will experience intense fear, helplessness and terror.

Learn the symptoms

Listen

Offer social support

Create a sense of safety

Anticipate triggers

Have a plan in place

Remain calm during emotional outbursts

Encourage professional treatment

Take care of yourself

Tips To Halt Flashbacks

1) Sip water. If intense thoughts and feelings from the past intrude and overwhelm your present awareness, these may be flashbacks. A tip to halt a flashback: Take a sip of water. This activates the pre-frontal cortex, which reconnects you with the present.

2) Use 5 senses. A trauma flashback can intrude when you least expect it. Try to activate each of the 5 senses. What do you see? What can you smell, touch, taste, and hear around you?

3) Find a favorite scent. Even if you were too young to remember a traumatic event, your body may still replay the experience, and flood your sense of the present. This is an implicit flashback. To restore your present awareness, use a scent you like like hand lotion with an aroma. This helps you feel present in a safer place.

4) Feel the ground. If you feel flooded by a stress response that doesnt fit the situation, you may be having a flashback. To help you feel safer in the present, feel your feet on the ground. Notice the sensations in the place where you are sitting or standing.

5) Cool with ice. Do strong, upsetting thoughts or feelings take over your mind, and wipe out your sense of the present? Hold ice briefly in your hand. This intense sensation can help bring you back to the current place and time.

6) Turn on the music. For trauma survivors, flashbacks can drown out the present with a flood of overwhelming sensations from the past. To disrupt a flashback, play your favorite music and sing along .

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