Poll How Long Do Your Flashbacks Last

[Higgins]

How long does it take you to come out of a flashback / disassociated state?

 

[shimmerz]

For me, a flashback is different from a dissociated state. Although I am dissociated when in the flashback, I also would be dissociated (for much longer periods of time), without having a flashback. So I can't really answer the questionnaire.

 

[Higgins]

I just want to know how long.

 

[Gadgie]

My flashbacks last as long as my nightmares, because that's what they are.

 

[shimmerz]

Flashback - anywhere from 1/2 second to 5 minutes
Dissociation - can last days or weeks

 

[Alysia887]

Mine are usually pretty quick once I realize and stop looking at the trigger. It usually take a few hours and a couple of Xanax later before I feel better though.

 

[Crow]

I consider the dissociation a kind of flashback. Basically some part of me is stuck in the past. Last month it took three weeks to get back fully. Every time I wrote the date it would be 1975. A lot of times a distinct (traditional ) flashback will preceed the longer body sensation flashback (dissociation).

 

[Hope4Now]

Full-on flashback seconds to 20 minutes or so. Flashbacks are usually an extreme form of one of my dissociated states. These states last a long time sometimes...days, even weeks. Other kinds of flashbacky experiences like body memory or visual or vocal intrusions can go on for much longer than a flashback. it is a very hard question for people who have experienced complex trauma to answer because there are so many states.

 

[Higgins]

Thanks you guys. I know this is a difficult question. It is for me too, because all the effects seem to fold in on themselves. I'm trying to parse them out if I can. And for the last six months, the lows aren't lasting as long as they did before. Strangely enough, it's not the lows that now sort of freak me out, it's the spells that are new, where I seem to function. The going back and forth from ok to dissociated is concerning.

 

[Deleted member 19804]

I voted "a few minutes" as well as "a few hours". For me it's hard to determine when I'm dissociating, I still haven't quite figured out the borderline between full-blown dissociation, panic attacks and just my day to day numbness.

As for the flashbacks: they're usually just a few seconds to a minute at a time, but they frequently repeat themselves over several minutes up to an hour or so. It's somewhat like this:
FLASH - getting scared - FLASH - trying to think of something else - FLASH- trying harder to think of something else, keeping that up for a few seconds to minutes - FLASH - etc.

 

[Ed Norton]

Mine have remitted for reasons I can't explain. But after I had a nervous breakdown they stopped save a couple of very short 'incidents' I really don't know how long they were, my sense of time was screwed up. Definitely not a day but more than a few minutes. I picked a few hours but that's not quite accurate. I guess 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. Also, because they occurred near sleep some may have been night terrors. It's all very confusing to me.

N.B yes, I know that 'nervous breakdown' isn't a correct term today but I call my experience that.

 

[Ellabella44]

flashbacks can be seconds to several minutes dependingon what its about. dissociating can be a few hours ora few minutes. best guess.