What do your flashbacks look like to others?

[blackemerald1]

A variation on all of those ^ things.

I guess the biggest 'tell' for me is that I go white or almost transparent. People say I look sick.

I know this because my very laid back husband would often asked me what was that?

^Oh.. can I have your husband please grit? :hilarious: :)

 

[MrMoonlight]

It's hard to categorize, trigger from a flashback sometimes. My body jerks hard to the left, eye twitching, suddenly I start sweating, tears, anger..etc. My harder flashbacks will have me zoned out to running in panic. weird spread I guess...(blindness once but nobody could see that)

 

[Ronin]

all the things I have read so far are what I call reactions to being triggered, not flashbacks.

May be very much background dependant (grin).

Some of us honestly dont have the time & have all the reasons to learn to reign in reactions very fast / even if not, at least appearing that way to others.

 

[user27357]

I am told I am "checked out" but I am not, just preoccupied with trying not to check out.
Most people I am around alot know that I have intense periods of scrutinizing risky behaviors and extreme proactive responses to threats that they often don't see like I do. I am the "what if?" guy. If I am criticized for being too hypervigilant I will offer to stop trying to prevent tragedy but no one has taken me up on it. Un checked, my flashbacks will leave me with days or weeks of angry, combative responses to anyone that I see as being in defense of a perceived threat, so most people see my flashbacks and disassociations as me being checked out a bit while I fight to keep from spiraling into that drain of unchecked hypervigilance.

 

[siniang]

Interesting thread, because I'm with @JadeB. , here

This is an interesting thread because all the things I have read so far are what I call reactions to being triggered, not flashbacks.

I always say I don't really have flashbacks anymore.That's because I don't have experiences where I am reliving my traumas
[...]
Maybe I am wrong in my understanding of what exactly flashbacks are?

I too thought I don't have flashbacks. I don't think I've ever relieved my trauma(s) other than in nightmares. But after reading here I think some of my occasional hallucinations might actually be flashbacks?

People would probably not notice them because they last mere (fractions of) seconds. I might tense up/freeze briefly or look around me panicky. But those are kinda common things for me either way and things only my husband ever gets to see/experience.

 

[unbrokenn]

Usually nothing, but sometimes people ask if I’m ok because I’m shaking or I look pale, or I’m really quiet.

 

[Jade-]

To me there's a big difference in being triggered and experiencing symptoms and having flasbacks.

Something triggers me and reminds me of past traumas and I become symptomatic instantly.It can last anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks depending on the severity. I know the traumas are not happening in the here and now,I am aware of what's going on and I am still able to function pretty much(although the longer lasting ones leave me completely exhausted mentally and physically and I just function at the basic minimum)I don't consider it flashbacks,just experiencing symptoms due to triggers.

Flashbacks,for me were not like that.They were not knowing the difference between the past and the present and re-experiencing traumas as if they were happening in the here and now.The longest one lasted was 3 days.Neither my husband or my therapist could convince me a trauma wasn't happening in the present and it was a terrifying experience.I say I don't have flashbacks because I don't have those experiences anymore.

I didn't know others consider having symptoms as having flashbacks.

I feel a bit confused really.

 

[Gs172003]

Interesting thread, because I'm with @JadeB. , here



I too thought I don't have flashbacks. I don't think I've ever relieved my trauma(s) other than in nightmares. But after reading here I think some of my occasional hallucinations might actually be flashbacks?

People would probably not notice them because they last mere (fractions of) seconds. I might tense up/freeze briefly or look around me panicky. But those are kinda common things for me either way and things only my husband ever gets to see/experience.

Sounds like a flashback to me.

 

[Sideways]

They were not knowing the difference between the past and the present and re-experiencing traumas as if they were happening in the here and now.

This was my experience when one of my parts (DID) had flashbacks. Crazy behaviour ensued. She couldn’t tell the difference between then and now, because ‘then’ was happening all over again, and why couldn’t anyone else see/hear this!?

When I experience flashbacks now, it feels real, it feels like it’s happening all over again. But I can tell (now) that it isn’t.

Does that help at all? If you’re re-experiencing a trauma, as though it’s happening again right now, in any sensory way (hearing stuff, seeing stuff, smelling or tasting stuff) that’s a flashback.

But I think for a lot of people, unlike with psychotic hallucinations, there is either some degree of awareness that it isn’t real, or they dissociate (like daydreaming your trauma is happening again, yeah?) while it occurs (hence the ‘zoned out’ expression).

 

[siniang]

This was my experience when one of my parts (DID) had flashbacks.
[...]
When I experience flashbacks now, it feels real, it feels like it’s happening all over again. But I can tell (now) that it isn’t.

That part might be significant because, if I'm not completely mistaken, didn't @JadeB. have DID and achieved full integration?

 

[Deanna]

Very very few people know I have ptsd. So hiding symptoms is essential. Even for those that know......gotta stay invisible!

No one can even detect I have PTSD. I wasn't even diagnosed till i was in my 50's. Flashbacks for me are just getting lost per say, deep in a trance, saying nothing. The very few people who know I'm PTSD, don't even get the seriousness of it.. But that's okay. I act normal so....P- doc takes good care of me!

 

[Jade-]

This was my experience when one of my parts (DID) had flashbacks. Crazy behaviour ensued. She couldn’t tell the difference between then and now, because ‘then’ was happening all over again, and why couldn’t anyone else see/hear this!?

When I experience flashbacks now, it feels real, it feels like it’s happening all over again. But I can tell (now) that it isn’t.

Does that help at all? If you’re re-experiencing a trauma, as though it’s happening again right now, in any sensory way (hearing stuff, seeing stuff, smelling or tasting stuff) that’s a flashback.

But I think for a lot of people, unlike with psychotic hallucinations, there is either some degree of awareness that it isn’t real, or they dissociate (like daydreaming your trauma is happening again, yeah?) while it occurs (hence the ‘zoned out’ expression).

Thanks @Sideways ,what you said makes it less confusing.I didn't realize any sensory re-experiencing is considered a flashback.

I guess I do have flashbacks then.Feeling or tasting a tongue in my mouth,feeling hands,body pains,etc etc.are flashbacks...hmmm.Apparently I still have many flashbacks.

They do feel real but I know they're not. I guess that's where most of my confusion was.I thought with a flashback a person didn't know it wasn't happening because that's how I experienced it.

That part might be significant because, if I'm not completely mistaken, didn't @JadeB. have DID and achieved full integration?

Coincidentally I was going to come back and mention that but you beat me to it.

I haven't experienced the "flashbacks" I described since integration.I was going to say that maybe my interpretation and comparisons were due to that fact.

What I experience now is nothing like before integration.Maybe what was happening before is like what @Sideways said about a part having a flashback.

IDK.I just know that even though I struggle I feel I am doing much better than before.But then again,maybe my PTSD is worse now without DID in the mix because there's no 'escape ' valve anymore? If I'm having all these flashbacks maybe I'm not doing as well as I thought....