There is actually no such thing as an emotional flashback. Big misinterpretation which some physicians online decide to use in order to make their articles seem more compelling.
A flashback is the only legitimate and factual term. A definition or understanding of a flashback is often where misinformation begins. Movies portray a flashback to be a movie like stream of a past event, and that's not true at all. A flashback is a "re-experiencing" event associated to a memory. The re-experiencing aspect of a flashback can be visual, auditory, emotional and more.
To your point though... you are really either triggered or you are having a flashback, but you aren't triggered into a flashback.
A flashback is not a fleeting memory, whether visual or emotional, it is a complete "re-experiencing" event.
A trigger is a symptomatic reaction from one of the five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) based only upon a direct connection to an actual traumatic event experienced.
A trigger produces an instant symptomatic reaction. A flashback produces a visual or emotional re-experiencing of an event. You can then have an increase in symptoms from a flashback, but they are different.
The word trigger is often used with flashback in the wrong context or meaning, hence the issues of definition. A flashback is typically formed upon an action around you (trigger), ie. it could be the smell of a specific aftershave that produces a flashback. Remember, a flashback is a "re-experiencing" event, either visual or emotional, but it is an actual re-experience, not just an instantaneous thought via one of the five senses to produce an immediate reaction. The fallout from a flashback could be instant or become heightened after hours later. A trigger is a near instant reaction from one of your senses. Even though your senses provoke a flashback, it doesn't mean you are triggered, it means you are "re-experiencing" the event in a specific manner associated with a memory. You have to look at the key words used in both cases.
Trigger = starts from one of your senses and end instantly in a reaction. Not a full memory or re-experiencing event, ending with an instant symptomatic reaction.
Flashback = a memory recall that could be started via a sense, though could just be started by a thought, though is an actual "re-experiencing" event, whether full or partial, but more than just a fleeting thought. Does not end in an instant symptomatic reaction, though could have some or heightened reactions hours or days later.
A trigger or flashback can have long lasting symptomatic results, considering the effects PTSD can cause. You have to think of a trigger as something you have engrained already in your brain, it is a memory you are aware off, its something you remember about an event. Yes, it can be something you have suppressed, but you still know that it is directly related to a trauma you have experienced. Flashback... now something has occurred that you are actually re-experiencing a part or total traumatic event, visually or emotionally. A trigger has no re-experiencing component to it. It is one or the other, but not both.
