Helpful Article On Complex Developmental Ptsd

[illusionist]

Wow!.....this takes me back! This article was my bible once upon a time and helped a lot with my journey in self help. I had copies of the list all over the place and still use the words "remember this will pass, as it has many times before" when I'm having bad times...it really does help.

Thanks for posting and reminding me that I really have come on a long way since then....got tears of happiness here and can I say?.......feeling proud of myself.

 

[ms spock]

@illusionist Wow that is so inspiring and heartening. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Sandstone]

is there any evidence to support the concept of emotional flashbacks?

 

[Fadeaway]

Respectfully @stenni I don't know if there is clinical evidence, or how much there is, but my experiences are proof positive enough for me. That article couldn't hit any closer to home for me.

 

[falling_wave]

I would love to see some too but many well trained professionals educate on this so I'm sure they have proof. My experiences also highly support it. I feel with so many of us reading the article and so closely identifying it can't be a coincindence.

 

[Sandstone]

It is highly recognisable to me too - that is why I want to fit it into a theory framework with the rest of my stuff . It matters to me whether it is fact or analogy.

It's a bit like saying the sun rises in the east, moves across the sky and sets in the west. We all know that actually it is the earth that moves, but for practical purposes it doesn't matter, unless you want to send a rocket to Pluto, or calculate where Saturn will be next May. Emotional Flashbacks may be fact, or they may be a really good way to describe an experience.

When I react to something with a tantrum, I want to know
whether i'm just emotionally volatile by nature,
or whether I'm socialised to respond that way by a volatile family,
or whether I'm experiencing an "amygdala hijacking' as Walker suggests,
or whether it's a partial intrusion of a dissociated aspect of myself as Structural Dissociation suggests.

Which of those is responsible may not change the way that I need to manage myself - I've applied lots of Walker's suggestions since I read them four years ago - but it will change how I think about myself, and that changes how much I'm able to apply the management techniques.

 

[RussH]

@stenni I can absolutely testify to the existence of emotional flashbacks, because I have suffered them.

 

[ms spock]

I don't know where Walker got his information from @stenni but the author that writes about this in the handout out that I have cites Claudia Black (1999) Changing Course: healing from loss, abandonment and fear. Washington: MAC Publishing.

I don't know if Claudia Black cites where she got the information from but it is a start, of a sort, I don't know if it will give you the information that you are seeking, but it might be worth a look.

You could email anthony as he has a great deal of information on these things.

Google scholar is also your friend.

An article I have downloaded recently is

Van der Kolk, B. A., & Fisler, R. (1995). Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study. Journal of traumatic stress, 8(4), 505-525.

I haven't read it yet but it might be on that track. I will keep an eye out.

Hope that is of some assistance.

 

[Flower Power]

Okay one more article. This one is the most comprehensive helpful Article I have found on Complex D...

Pete Walker is my hero! He really helped me unwind so many things and really see how this wasn't my fault and that healing was possible or at least management is possible. Still have days when I feel like one big nerve and don't trust people to be near me.

 

[tontoe]

Okay one more article. This one is the most comprehensive helpful Article I have found on Complex D...

Pete Walker's description of Emotional Flashback resonated so much with my own experience I almost cried... finally a lucid description of how it is.
I bought his book. Great stuff!

 

[Flower Power]

I would highly recommend all of Pete Walker's books. They really helped me so much. You can get them from his web site.

 

[Mit]

Only just read the article, which is very helpful. I experience anxiety attacks frequently, of varying degrees of severity. Many of them can be linked to an event or thoughts (trigger I guess...). But I also experience rushes of anxiety (rapid heart rate, fearful emotions, stuff like that) that I cannot link to any event or thought, they come upon me out of nowhere and I sit there trying to figure out why. Does that sound like an emotional flashback?

It would be helpful to know and understand what is going on at such times.

I'd be grateful for any insights.

Thanks