Flashbacks – What Are They and Why Do They Happen?

What Are Flashbacks?

Flashbacks are one of the many symptoms of trauma. You don’t have to be experiencing flashbacks to have experienced trauma, but they are very common among people who’ve been through something traumatic.

In simple terms, flashbacks are a psychological experience felt in the brain and the body. They can be really distressing and attempts to manage flashbacks and the things that trigger them can often lead to other problems.

What Do Flashbacks Feel Like?

Flashbacks are different for each person who experiences them. Sometimes they consist of pictures or images, video replays, and the feeling you’re reliving a traumatic experience. Sometimes they’re an exact repeat of the traumatic event. Other times, they’re a more fragmented version, like pieces of a jigsaw. Either way, it can be highly distressing and disturbing to have a painful, difficult experience replaying over and over in your mind.

Flashbacks can also be multi-sensory. This means they can contain pictures, sounds, smells, sensations, thoughts, and emotions. Basically, anything that occurred at the time of the trauma or is representative of the experience.

It’s worth noting flashbacks don’t always include mental images. For people with more complex trauma histories, the flashback might entail more of an emotional response. For example, if you were exposed to chronic bullying in your early life, a particular tone of voice might trigger the same fear you felt as a child. There are no images in your mind, but the body responds in the same way.

Flashbacks often feel like a momentary return to the past. They can go on for seconds or minutes, but some people experience an extreme form of flashback called ‘dissociation’ that can last for hours at a time. The degree to which we’re still aware of the here and now during a flashback varies. We can experience a flashback and remain aware of our current surroundings, or we can lose contact with our reality. This can be really frightening for people.

Nightmares are another type of flashback. It’s not uncommon to dream about traumatic events as it’s often when our mind is relaxed, at rest, and processing things as we sleep that these difficult events show up. Understandably, this can make people scared to go to sleep at night. Disrupted sleep then makes them more vulnerable to other symptoms of trauma during the daytime.

Why Do Flashbacks Happen and What Do They Mean?

Flashbacks are an involuntary experience. This means they pop into our mind unbidden and often unannounced. The fact they can appear out of nowhere can be especially frightening for people.

Sometimes, certain things can trigger a flashback. This might be a certain date, a particular place, a tone of voice, sound or smell – anything that reminds you of the trauma. Sometimes people know what their triggers are, but people can also be taken by surprise. Usually, when a trigger occurs, a flashback happens, and people do a range of things to try and cope. Unfortunately, this is why flashbacks can sometimes lead to harmful behaviour such as substance abuse, isolation, avoidance, or self-harm.  

The link between triggers and flashbacks also means people often associate thinking and talking about the trauma with having a flashback. This can make them reluctant to revisit the trauma at all, causing the memory to become more and more stuck as it remains unprocessed.

My Tips for Coping with Flashbacks

It can be helpful to work on noticing when flashbacks are happening so you can tell yourself this is what it is. It’s important to help your brain understand the event itself is over. You are safe. It’s a flashback and the trauma is not happening again.

Grounding yourself can also be useful. When you experience a trigger or flashback, you want to focus on remaining in the here and now. I’d encourage you to try the exercise known as ‘54321’. It’s simple and straightforward. You just need to run through the five senses. Start with five things you can see and then move on to four things you can hear, three things you can touch, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste.

Stimulus discrimination is another tool you could use. Focus on the differences between then (when the trauma occurred) and now. For example, back then I was small and now I’m tall. Back then, it was winter, and I was cold. Now it’s summer and the birds are singing outside. Back then, I couldn’t move. Now I can. This exercise helps your brain distinguish between the past traumatic event and your present safety. 

Therapy for Trauma

If you’re struggling with triggers and flashbacks as a result of trauma and you’d like an expert to help you heal and recover, please get in touch. You can also subscribe to The Trauma Toolbox to receive my insights and tips straight to your inbox every month. Finally, I share lots of mental health education via Instagram.

Useful Links

What Does Trauma Do to Your Brain?

Trauma Responses – 5 Surprising Signs of Trauma in Your Daily Life

How to Retrain Your Nervous System After Trauma