What do your flashbacks look like to others?

[Itsnotyouitsme]

I probably look like a crazy lady... I often shake my head so hard so to ‘shake the thoughts away’

 

[Cypress]

Instead finding at least one thing I can deal with even in utter chaos & move through it gets me a way out faster.

I think I do this too. When I find myself in the middle of a mindset and don't know if it's from the past or how to get out, I focus on the one thing that seems manageable or most reality connected and work through it that way. Afterwards I can reflect and sometimes see what the emotional trigger was.

 

[Tinyflame]

Idk know what others see.

 

[Teasel]

I'm not sure I do either @Tinyflame I know sometimes Mr can tell, but I can't remember exactly what he says I look like when it happens, but it's a long the lines of scared/ hurt.

I can remember one time it happening with people I know but not well, and later one of em said I seemed angry, and I know I wasn't feeling angry, scared more like.

 

[Tinyflame]

I'm guessing for me it doesn't show much (?), or is fleeting, because I remember once some guy smiling and striking up a conversation in the dairy section of the grocery store.

 

[talon]

I'm just curious as to what you guys experience... I freeze in a ball and hyperventilate

Post traumatic stress disorder flashbacks are like a memory, or part of a memory, that feels like it's happening right now. ... According to one person with PTSD: “I feel like I'm straddling a timeline where the past is pulling me in one direction and the present another.What can be said for what happens during most PTSD flashbacks is that it is scary for those experiencing it and even for those around them but that will depend on how much they know the person experiencing the flashback . Its a question with many answers but all have a thread which connects . . The positive is that recovery is possible and there is hope. The story of Jeni Hayden and the recent life imprisonment of her 74 yr old father who abused her since she was 4yrs old means she is a survivor Her alter symphony giving evidence is a 1st in legal history in one of Australia's worst cases of abuse . Stay strong for yourself and for others .

 

[Fahrenheit451]

Mine are definitely the deer in the headlights look. And I’m gone to whatever is going on around me. When I come back I feel embarrassed for not paying attention to who I was speaking with.

 

[juno]

typically, from what my close friend has told me, i visibly freeze up and my body language becomes really defensive (i squeeze my legs together, hunch my shoulders over, tense up). then i dissociate for a few minutes and stare at nothing and become really unresponsive. that's kind of it

 

[Ellabella44]

I had a flashback at my sister in laws Christmas eve celebration. Luckily I could feel it coming on. I took a benadryl because my anxiety med I'd a high dose antihistamine its derived from. I sat in a room by myself and had brought something to sew by hand with me. I ended up shaking and crying.

Not the cute little crying that you see in a romantic comedy but full on ugly crying with a waterfall seeming to come from my eyes and nose. I got out my sewing project to help me ground. Needle goes in, needle goes out, repeat.

I could not hide that if you paid me. I went to a disability office to get help finding work and the caseworker I had told me to splash water on my face. ? So I fired her from being my caseworker. Obvious she had no experience with ptsd in general.

 

[katz]

Mine have always looked like I was "out of it" or "on cloud nine". I also notice that I quit talking or just walk away from the conversation/situation.
One odd thing is that I sometimes lose my ability to speak. I have always wondered if it was because my trauma may have started very early in my development of speech? Thoughts?

 

[Maou]

Irrational anger, or they do not notice. The number one thing people notice about me, is my sudden snapping about things. Or I get in the "mood" that is pretty much a cycle of perfectionism and anger at everyone for not doing it right.

 

[blackemerald1]

Irrational anger, or they do not notice. The number one thing people notice about me, is my sudden snapping about things. Or I get in the "mood" that is pretty much a cycle of perfectionism and anger at everyone for not doing it right.

^This does not sound like a flashback. It sounds more like a temper flare tbh..