Is There Anyway to Regain Control in a Flashback ?

Lately, it seems that I’ve been having more flashbacks to certain times when my father would abuse me. More so, to the times when he would strangle me.

A friend of mine has reported that — when this occurs — I suddenly get very quiet, and I start staring off in to space with what seems to be a dead or dull expression. My hands either were previously resting on my neck or move to it, but don’t squeeze down until a bit later. We’re not sure what the trigger for the squeezing response is.

However, if someone tries to touch my hands or anywhere near my arms or neck, it seems that I’ll scream and try to scramble away from them while still holding a firm grip on my throat.

My friend tells me that I will calm down after a certain amount of time, and that I can be shaken out of it, but I worry about this sort of thing happening in a public place.

Category: Abuse Tags: abuse physical abuse PTSD asked February 6, 2015

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Celestial Cleric

3 Answers

Reassure yourself. "I am not in danger. No one is hurting me. I am safe". Repeat it over and over. Eventually, it will be embedded in your subconscious. Your conscious brain will start to accept it as truth. However, I recommend doing it even when you are not having a flashback. I have PTSD, too. It works for me but it took a while for the message to sink in. But that is to be expected.PTSD will never fully go away. There is no cure, unfortunately. The best we can do is use coping mechanisms like the one I shared and reach out to people when we need support. Personally, it is hard for me to ask for help, but doing so helps alleviate my stress.You went through something horrible. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. You really can't control when flashbacks occur, just ease them. :/ PTSD is an anxiety disorder. Fight or flight response is off the charts. The goal is to ease that anxiety. There are many ways to do so. Therapy, of course, being one of them, although there are so many different kinds of therapy it's uncanny.

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Jaylee ツ

you will get through this and it does get easier. Here is a link of helpful strategies.
http://www.abuse-survivors.org.uk/coping-strategies

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notreallyhere

There are many things you can do to control yourself during the flashback, just as on the page notreallyhere gave you. However, that does not mean the source of the problem will be solved. You are experiencing something like emotional trauma and I think you should ty to get over this so you can be at peace once and for all. Although I have never used profesionnal help, I think since mst of them know what they're doing and how they're guiding you through all this so it helps more than it hurts. Of course, you can try to work on that trauma on your own and with friends, talk about it and write about it so you understand what happened, why it happened, why you should overcome it and how you could do it as well as how you can become stronger "thanks to" all this. But it's a painful journey so it's important to have friends with you to help you though it and it's important you admit you need someone to help you take the next step if you feel like it's becoming too much to bear.

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Junels

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