I Can FEEL It... Types of FLASHBACKS | PTSD & Dissociative Identity Disorder

hello everybody welcome back to another video by dissociative this is chloe and this channel is dedicated to educating people about mental illness and specifically dissociative identity disorder and erasing the stigma that surrounds it [Music] today i'm going to be talking to you about ptsd if you haven't seen our videos on ptsd we have two one of them is a debunking did which means that it's full chock-a-block of scientific information biology and lots of studies that you can check out in the description of the video all the medical journals every resource we found is linked so if you want a huge full overview of what ptsd is and how it works in the brain please go and have a look at that video and you'll find it up here this video specifically is going to be about different types of flashbacks if you already know about ptsd then you'll know that flashbacks are something that happens because somebody with ptsd has experienced a traumatic event and because this event was so traumatic the brain essentially disabled or put hold on its memory processing abilities to make sure that the fight or flight response was up and powered so that the body can get out of that traumatic situation therefore the memory of that event hasn't been processed properly because it wasn't being filed as a memory this means that when a trigger happens so for example something that the brain associates with that event let's say you were assaulted by somebody who was drinking or you were in a car accident the sound of screeching breaks or the smell of alcohol could trigger a flashback because the brain is saying what's the first thing that i have in my awareness that relates to this experience that i'm having right now hmm the smell of alcohol oh wait what's this i haven't processed this event as a memory and it brings it back to the front of your mind and you relive the whole experience as your brain tries to process this as a memory so because it hasn't already been processed as a memory this means that the brain doesn't recognize that this event isn't happening again right at this very moment this is a flashback a flashback is when you re-experience something that happened something traumatic as though it was happening again at that moment you can re-experience everything sights sounds smells feelings of touch emotions and it is very very overwhelming and often painful just a side note this is why that meme triggered isn't funny just saying so okay that sounds easy enough in basic terms to understand a flashback is when an event is called back to your mind and you re-experience the trauma so what else is there to talk about what we haven't spoken about on this channel is that there are different types of flashbacks it doesn't have to be you experiencing everything in one go all over again sometimes because these events haven't been processed as a full memory the brain has not processed it together there could be different parts of this event that haven't been filed as a memory for example just the emotions just the physical feelings just the sense sights sounds that came with it what most people know to be a flashback is when all of this happens at once you're completely drawn back into that time your brain cannot associate that this isn't happening right now cannot pick out that this event is over so you may feel that you are in this specific time period so for example i have trauma from 2016. when one of many but i have trauma from 2016. and when i'm having a flashback it is impossible to tell that i'm not in 2016. my brain does not function in the way that's telling me that this is over you've lived a whole lot of years since then it's three years later it's 2019. this is over it's done you survived it and you're okay when i'm in that flashback even if someone is telling me it's 2019 it's 2019. my brain is saying it's 2016. it's 2016. this is happening right now and this isn't just that you're i don't know being stubborn and thinking no this hurt me and i'm not ready to move on your brain literally hasn't processed this as a memory your whole brain which controls everything in your body is telling your whole body this is happening right now that's a full flashback a full flashback is when you re-experience everything partial flashbacks can be things such as body memories if you're having body memories or a physical flashback you may not be re-experiencing the visual or sensory part of the memory if it were being processed as a memory the event just the physical sensations this is why colloquially they are known as body memories because your body is what's having a memory it can be very very confusing you may not even realize you've been triggered and sometimes this can come out of nowhere there doesn't need to be a specific trigger in order for you to have a flashback sometimes your brain is just working through things in the background and oh what's this haven't filed this boom and then all of a sudden you're feeling everything so there have been occasions where i've just been walking around the house doing housework and you know this can happen anywhere anytime to anybody with ptsd when all of a sudden i can feel someone touching me or burning me or grabbing me depending on what your trauma is and what this flashback is about you can feel what was happening your body remembers you remember the physical sensations so you might be able to feel somebody touching you or hurting you obviously this can be very distressing because there's no way that i've found at least to make that stop you just have to bear with it until your brain is done processing it some things that i've found help me especially if these flashbacks are focused on the lower area of my body the only thing i can do is pace i need to keep my legs moving if i sit still i can go into a full flashback so sometimes partial flashbacks can trigger full-on flashbacks it can be very difficult so body memories are physical re-experiencing of the sensations that come from that past trauma there's also such a thing as an emotional flashback an emotional flashback is when you re-experience the emotions that were happening around that trauma so even if you're aware that there is no reason for you to be feeling scared disgusted ashamed ill or terrified any of those feelings angry betrayed those feelings are still gonna come on and they can be very very overwhelming again this is your brain trying to process parts of the things that happened during that trauma emotional flashbacks can last for minutes hours days weeks you can be completely taken over by the emotions you were feeling when that trauma occurred especially if that feeling was very overwhelming it's going to be very overwhelming for you now feelings of being unsafe being scared being abandoned whatever relates to your trauma in your typical ptsd flashback the individual who's having the flashback will be re-experiencing the event in general the traumatic event whereas in an emotional flashback the individual who's been traumatized is instead revisiting the leftover prolonged emotional impact of that event it's complicated leftover emotions from trauma that could have happened directly after the trauma directly before the trauma during the trauma the need to be dealt with i think it goes without saying that this is extremely distressing other types of flashbacks that you can have can be sounds just hearing sounds so like i used the example of being in a car crash or an accident the sound of screeching tires if you were assaulted maybe or you came from a broken home the sound of yelling hearing somebody's voice in your head screaming at you or whatever is related to your trauma visuals so you can have just the visual image of somebody coming at you to attack you or what you saw in the car crash the road coming up to meet you whatever happened seeing the visual images seeing that memory but it's just visual and it can be kind of like you know when you zone out or if you dissociate when you dissociate it's kind of like being blinded all you can see is that and sometimes it's kind of like looking through a film somebody's holding up a relatively transparent piece of perspex maybe that's got drawings and memories on it something is behind that which is the real world is it happening right now you might be able to see bits of it but it's kind of like this overlay of this trauma memory it's right in front of your face and that's what you can see this can obviously also happen with any of the senses so smells work as well you might suddenly remember the smell of someone's breath or cigarette smoke or alcohol or blood or the smell of somebody's perfume smell of someone's house smell of a hospital anything and it doesn't have to be something that seems obviously related to this trauma so for example you were in a trauma that resulted in you being in hospital it would make sense if it was a trigger the smell of hospitals right but sometimes triggers can be absolutely bizarre even changes in the weather can be triggers for some people things that seem completely irrelevant that may have been involved around that time period like a certain show or even a type of fabric or a type of pattern that might have been on the walls or on the curtains or that somebody might have been wearing it can seem really bizarre people might say oh i'm sorry this is a trigger for me and people will think what don't be ridiculous that's not what triggers are that's obviously not connected to anything it doesn't work like that anything can be a trigger anything can be a trigger it's whatever your brain has latched onto and said ah that was wait that reminds me of this let's bring it back up it doesn't have to be obvious to you whether you're the person with ptsd or you know and are supporting somebody with ptsd triggers don't have to make sense what matters is that they are triggers and it's how your brain is working to process this memory there is no such thing as an impossible trigger if you'd like to know more about ptsd triggers flashbacks how this works in the brain dissociation related to ptsd and trauma please do have a look at the videos that we've made on it before they are very in-depth and i can guarantee that you will learn a lot if that interests you please do check it out you'll be able to find it at the end of this video in a little card up here or in the description box below possibly all three if you're lucky and if you are interested in dissociative identity disorder which used to be known as multiple personality disorder then that is mainly what this channel is about alongside other mental illnesses that can come alongside it as comorbid disorders or just in general for people who may need an explanation or some advice have a look at our channel if you are interested in the scientific psychological biological aspects of did specifically and ptsd because did is essentially a very extreme form of cptsd then have a look at our debunking did series and i hope that you find that this area of youtube has a lovely supportive community i feel like we have the most incredible community on this channel so i hope that you'll be able to find people who can help you support you answer your questions if we don't get to you first so thank you for coming on the channel i hope that you enjoyed this and that you learned something and remember to please stay safe lots of love everybody bye [Music] you