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Originally Posted by dreamseeker9
when all of a sudden I was hit with a memory of me in the middle of my trauma - it was like I was back there, I started to shake and cry.
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When my T first began labeling my experiences 'flashbacks,' I was awfully confused, because in the movies it's people acting out a situation, the entire backdrop changes. I assumed that since part of me knew I was still here and now, then it must just be a memory. But "it was like I was back there" is the defining feature of a flashback. There are lots of different kind of flashbacks--sound, sight, smell, feel. But they all have that eerie, awful, back-in-the-moment feeling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreamseeker9
I wasn't even sure that I had what is considered PTSD, since in my mind, what I went through wasn't a big T trauma (life-threatening, natural disaster, loved one dying).
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I think you'll hear lots of folks with the PTSD diagnosis saying the same thing. Even after years of PTSD treatment, I still sometimes doubt that it really is PTSD!
Childhood trauma, abuse in particular, can cause PTSD, in large part because children know that adults can hurt them in devastating ways, so abusers need only make a threat or a physical gesture for the child to feel complete terror.