Flashback Halting Process (not Only One)

[safenow]

The following flashback halting protocol can be taught. It is based on the principles of dual awareness, reconciling the experiencing self with the observing self. It usually will stop a traumatic flashback quite quickly.

Fill in the blanks:

Right now I am feeling _________________
(insert name of the current emotions, usually fear)

And I am sensing In my body ____________________
(describe your current bodily sensations – name at least three)

Because I am remembering _______________________
(name the trauma by title only – no details)

At the same time. I am looking around where I am right now in _______________
(the actual current year)

Here _______________
(name the place where you are)

And I can see ______________________
(describe some of the things that you see right now, in this place)

And so I know _____________________
(name the trauma, by title only, again)

Is not happening now/anymore.

Print this out and have a loved one keep a copy so they can help if the need arises.
Take care.

safenow

 

[Tinyflame]

But isn't this post-FB? I mean, how can one remember to ask those questions 'during it', and even more so, recognize they 'are' anywhere else, etc?

Does that make sense? :confused: (Thanks though, maybe it's just 'me'.)

 

[Meadowsweet]

how can one remember to ask those questions 'during it', and even more so, recognize they 'are' anywhere else, etc?

I think if someone had a loved one to ask those questions it might help.

And I can see ______________________

But I have used the above method when I'm alone and feeling the anxiety and dissociation reaching the point where I'm afraid I will be lost in it. But sometimes I feel it coming and other times it takes me unexpectedly.

But I think it's useful to remember that what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

 

[safenow]

how can one remember to ask those questions 'during it', and even more so, recognize they 'are' anywhere else, etc?

Junebug, while true, what works for one might not work for another. I recommend you do the 5-4-3-2-1 game. I posted it on another thread. You can practice that one many times before you need it. Even make a littl first-aid kit with pictures of colors, or fabric swatches you can touch (velvet, felt, etc), rocks - smooth, rough, marbles. etc.

Give it a try, and let me know what you find.
safenow

 

[safenow]

sometimes I feel it coming and other times it takes me unexpectedly.

Meadowsweet, It's that unexpecteded that gets ya. But the 5-4-3-2-1 game can instantly squash it. for instance, right this second, look in front of you. How many colors do you see? For me, I see grey (printer), silver (monitor), green (picture background), pink/purple (flower) brownish red (sunglasses). That's 5. How many do you see?

I'm glad you've used the different methods. Eventually we all need to find as many as we can, until we get to a point we don't need them any longer. (20 years later a trigger - the memory of the proceedure - zap - all gone)
safenow

 

[Tinyflame]

Thank you safenow, I will check it out.

I think mindfulness (for me) is mandatory, routinely, or when the pressure is building or I am having difficulty staying put or starting to feel badly. (And) I did not realize FB's could be anything but unexpected. (Mine, though rare, always are, no warning and instantaneous).

Thank you, :hug: .

 

[Abstract]

Had a semi one the other day where I was paralysed for ages and only my eyes could move. And the room was black and I was suspended. And certain sensory things were happening. Part of my mind would waft into some awareness that I needed to ground but all I could think of was looking for colours and could not see one and couldn't move. So it just didn't get anywhere. I did eventually manage to accept the situation though so that I didn't add to it. The deeper one is in the more difficult it is to be able to know one needs to even thinking of grounding. :confused:

 

[Tinyflame]

Exactly Abstract. It seems I'm the last to know or recognize it, then when it's there it's difficult to remember what to do then. Precisely.

 

[safenow]

Abstract, I would like to recommend something for those "only dark" times. Within your mind picture a smooth object (marble-stone-kitchen sink, pane of glass, etc.) and rub your finger (mentally) on that object. you will find that your finger (physically) will move, even if it's just touching your palm.

When I was a wee child, I was locked in a very dark, cold place for several days at a time. I would dissociate and rather than being inside was outside in the warm sunshine with flowers, bees, and birds. As I grew older, I began to fight against the things that were happeneing to me against my will, and was restrained to the point I could not move of my own free will. I found that if I went to my safe place mentally (Dissociate) I was able to breathe and move. I remember one time, with my last husband, I was so scared I was laying on the couch. I felt as though I'd had a heart attack (I was having a panic attack) I couldn't speak, see, or anything. I lost my hearing when I heard him laughing. That was a horrible time. The point i'm trying to make, is: even though we feel as though we might die, we don't. We wake up when it's over.

By the time I left my last husband I had mastered how to stay grounded and safe at the same time. I pray you never have to go through what I did to learn it. Which is why I'm sharing what I learned over the years with who ever wants to hear it.

FB's can happen anywhere, as you already know. If color in the 5-4-3-2-1 game doesn't happen as the first part, then move on to touch, or sound, etc. The main thing is to engage your senses. ALL OF THEM. By the time you start, it's almost over. Don't give up. One of the things I tried for touch was a coin in my pocket. Then I got a small ring with little tassles and began to play with the tassels. The main thing is, it breaks the attention span of the mind. Goodness, I hope this makes sense to you.

I do hope you all have someone who can read or type those questions for you while you're struggling. But if you don't (I didn't) they can still work. I used to keep this list on my refridgerator, but then, I live alone. How about a card in your wallet? What ever works for you.

safenow.

 

[just me here]

If you look on the back of the card that your car insurance carrier gave you for proof of insurance, there are instructions for what to do after you get in an accident. that way you have a role to play at a time when you might not be able to think clearly enough to "wing it".

The military trains soldiers through repetition and conditioned responses to stressful situations to the point that even when confronted with life and death situations they will react to orders and do their jobs.

After enough biofeedback training I have learned to recognize my own adrenaline level and know the methods I need to use to get it back down. I have a role to play, I know what I am supposed to do and even when scared and angry and in full PTSD storm I can react to the situation as I have been taught, all I need is the seed of the thought that I need to get my adrenaline level down ASAP and I can start down the list of things to do.

Not always, but more and more reliably.

Thats all I got out of twenty years of being misdiagnosed as depressed, disthymic, even possibly bi-polar, I learned to objectively view my own emotions and developed a method to get my body to do what needs to be done to get my fight or flight response to let go and stop ordering up larger and larger doses of adrenaline.

I see nothing wrong with a list of things to do to get back to an un-distressed thought pattern. I do know how hard it can be to use it when in the grip of a full on event.

 

[Abstract]

Abstract, I would like to recommend something for those "only dark" times. Within your mind picture a smooth object (marble-stone-kitchen sink, pane of glass, etc.) and rub your finger (mentally) on that object. you will find that your finger (physically) will move, even if it's just touching your palm.

That was a horrible time. .

Hi Safenow,

Thanks for this. I have not known what to do when I could not move or see so it is good to have an idea. I have intending to ask. I tried to imagine colours at that time but that didn't work. I do find sensory grounding as you describe the thing that works best for me generally. And also thinking who I am and where and when etc. It just takes enough awareness that one is actually not in the past and that grounding is necessary.

I am very sorry that it was such a horrible time for you and glad you got through it.

 

[Sailorgal]

I find using the senses much effective as well to "break up" the brain.