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sudden vivid images of the past

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redcrussh

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Hi, in the last few months I keep getting extremely vivid flashbacks to random moments from the past. Usually, they are not of a specific event, just an image from a time when I wasn't doing much or even having a fun time. Sometimes it's so vivid when I close my eyes, for a split second, I actually feel like I'm there. And then I get disorientated, open my eyes and feel a bit dizzy. Sometimes, I feel like I see the image of whatever flashback it is in the corner of my eye. I don't know why this is happening but it makes me quite sad even the events I'm remembering aren't sad themselves - perhaps this is how my brain is reminiscing about the past? Anyone got any ideas?
 
hello redcrussh. welcome to the forum.

a theory i've bumped into on my healing journey is that PTSD is connected to a form of eidetic memory which allows us full sensory recall of past events. we scarcely notice when the memory is pleasant and get thrown completely off track when the memory is traumatic. i've played with this theory over the decades since i heard this theory and have come to believe it is so in my case. when i allow myself to relax and flow with it, i really can actually feel the breeze on my face while i recall a pleasant event.

then we get to the traumatic memories which send me to bygone hell. . . my heart still wants to believe "good" memory operates on different mechanics than "bad" memories. memory functions don't judge. they just replay.

just a theory from just a patient. . .

steadying support while you find and develop your own theories. welcome aboard.
 
I don't know why this is happening but it makes me quite sad even the events I'm remembering aren't sad themselves - perhaps this is how my brain is reminiscing about the past? Anyone got any ideas?
My first thought would be grief. Did something separate you from these fun times? Are you mourning something that you have lost?
 
Hi @redcrussh, and welcome. IS this a new variation of flashback you are experiencing or are flashbacks new alltogether? PTSD is strange in that one can have a variety of flashbacks and experience them in a variety of ways, often dependent on the stressors in their 'here and now' lives. For me I can have olfactory flashbacks, all of the sudden smell dirty ashtrays (my mother smoked in our house growing up, there are no smokers in our current home 30 years later). I get fleeting picture-like flashbacks, emotional flashbacks where I feel all this overwhelming fear and emotional pain with no memories. I encourage you to journal what you were doing before to see if you can identify a trigger.
 
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