Flashbacks are vivid re-experiencing of a past traumatic event, where a person feels as if they are reliving the event in the present moment. During a flashback, a person may experience a range of sensory and emotional elements, including images, sounds, smells, physical sensations, and intense emotions.
Key characteristics of flashbacks:
Flashbacks are often associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and are considered one of its major clinical features. They can also be triggered by difficult past experiences other than trauma, as when a past embarrassment comes to mind. Flashbacks can disrupt daily life, making it difficult for people to focus on the present. They can lead to avoidance behavior and an attempt to control anxiety and the fear of further flashbacks.
It is important to distinguish between ordinary memory and traumatic memory. In ordinary memory, a person recalls an event as something that has happened in the past. When someone fully recalls a trauma, they relive the experience with all of its accompanying sensory and emotional elements.
Treatments for flashbacks often focus on helping people to process and integrate the traumatic memories, reducing their intensity, and enabling a person to regain a sense of control over their experiences. Hopefully by now you understand what are flashbacks.
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