What is Their Hidden Meaning?
Have you ever slammed a kitchen drawer because it stuck for the third time? Or felt like crying after getting a mildly critical email? Maybe you snapped at a friend for being five minutes late. Moments like these seem out of proportion, but they often point to something deeper going on inside. When you overreact to something small, it’s rarely about just that thing. The underlying cause is that you're having a flashback.
What is a Flashback?
It's an involuntary emotional reaction in which your body and mind respond to something in the present as though you were reliving an experience from the past. It’s not just remembering — it’s re-experiencing.
Flashbacks can be full or partial. In a full flashback, you temporarily lose awareness of your current surroundings and feel as if you're back in the original situation. In a partial flashback, which is much more common, you remain aware of the present moment, but aspects of the past trauma are reexperienced, sometimes just the feeling.
A person who was accosted with a knife may feel fear whenever she sees a knife. A woman I knew loathed the smell of cinnamon; she was re-experiencing the trauma of being sexually assaulted by her father in their kitchen. A veteran I know became anxious and sweaty when he heard fourth of July fireworks. At first, he wondered why, then realized that he was re-experiencing explosions he heard while fighting in Vietnam. When someone "overreacts," it’s a flashback to an earlier trauma that is being re-experienced in the present moment.
The Damage of Repeated Flashbacks
Each flashback causes surges of adrenaline and cortisol. Over time, this can lead to impaired immune function, inflammation, and elevated blood pressure; all of which are linked to serious conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders.
And flashbacks can lead to withdrawal from various aspects of life, such as social relationships, work responsibilities, creative pursuits, and even daily activities, not because the person wants to retreat, but because re-experiencing trauma makes engagement feel unsafe.
How to Tell You're Having a Flashback
You probably won’t realize it in the moment. But if you do recognize that your reaction feels exaggerated or out of proportion to the situation, that recognition alone can bring some relief, even if you don’t know its origin. You’ll feel even more relief if you do understand its origin. But that's difficult to do. My veteran friend eventually realized that his distress during fireworks was connected to wartime explosions. But the woman who felt aversion toward cinnamon wasn't able to identify the precise source of that repugnance and wasn't even interested in learning that.
Help with Flashbacks
I've developed a new technique that can deal with flashbacks. It's similar to meditation but with a special twist that enables you to enjoy stress-free periods of peacefulness and calm. It also helps you eliminate, over time, painful feelings such as anxiety, depression, and irritation or anger. Soon, I’ll be offering a way for you to learn this technique in a single, one-on-one session.
