A common symptom of abuse is the Emotional Flashback. It could be triggered by a sound, a smell, something someone said, the words they used, the order those words were said in, the tone of voice that was used, etc. I used to get A LOT of them. I get less today and I have started to be able to stop an emotional flashback from triggering a rage frenzy or panic attack. The key is to recognise that I am HAVING the emotional flashback, but that I am here now today, safe, and not in that situation that is currently being triggered.
Sometimes, a flashback is clear cut; either I hear my former abuser's voice, or see myself in the scene (either being back there or a bird's-eye view). Those ones are easier to deal with because I can psychoanalyse a lot sooner and begin to understand what is happening and what happened back then in a much more "efficient" manner. Whereas the flashbacks that are more a feeling without an event attached to it, are more ominous. Sometimes, all I know is that something is making me as bad as I felt when I was in the abuse relationship with the narcissist, but I can't pinpoint anything beyond feeling terrible. Sometimes, I just feel terrible, so I assume I'm having an emotional flashback because the feeling is sudden and abnormal to my usual chipper demeanor.
The EFT (Tapping Therapy) has been helping in recognising and stopping emotional flashbacks. Also, more knowledge about it has helped me understand what is happening to my mind and body when it happens.
If you are experiencing (or think you are, because at the beginning I had NO CLUE it was that or WHAT was happening to me), I highly recommend checking Richard Grannon The Spartan Life Coach on YouTube. He talks a lot about narcissistic abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Complex PTSD, and he talks about emotional flashbacks and gives some tricks and pointers about recognising them and stopping them.
The information I got from his channle, plus the work I've been doing on myself, the tapping while I am having a flashback, has made me, on occasion, able to just stop it before it goes any further. "I'm having an emotional flashback, I know it's that. I'm still upset about the situation, so I acknowledge that, but I am setting the flashback emotions aside because I know I am not there anymore and I am in a better and happier place."
Anyway, in Capsule 12 of Healing Through Humour, Mi describes the ominous feelings that go along with this confusing and agonising experience of emotional flashbacks being triggered, in a more humorous manner, but not at all exaggerated. It really is NOT exaggerated.
Feel free to share your stories with emotional flashbacks and triggers and how you've come to deal with it or how you might still be struggling with it, if you are comfortable with sharing. Awareness will help us all figure out our minds and emotions. And be well :)
