[Eternal_Cat]

hey all i have thoughts that are disturbing like say i'm having a thought about driving a car, butt hen the thought turn into having a car accident and then i flinch. this happens quite a lot . when i think of something embarassing happening to me i flinch and say a word like omigod over and over again, yeah.

so what is this? i wanna read on the net about it.

[gardenergirl]

I sometimes flinch when I am near stairs. I can imagine falling, and of course that would be scary. I attribute it to my experience actually falling down stairs before. I fell when I was 2 years old, and a couple of times as an adult when I missed a step (I'm a clutz).

What you might be experiencing is a type of anxiety where you fear the worst. If you tend to assume the worst is going to happen (and some people are more prone to do this than others), you kind of get "on your guard" all the time. And then if you get startled or frightened, you flinch much more easily. Kind of like a hair trigger for being startled.

gg

[GreyGoose]

Hi Cat

It's funny you mention this. I do that too when I'm deep in thought or obsessing about something that scares me. At the moment of "impact", I'll jerk my hand or body or whatever appendage happens to be conveniently available. Sometimes even the sound of my computer (ie; the "ding" of a program being launched, etc) will make me jump.

[hereiam]

This happens to me too. If I'm thinking off something and it gets to be too much, I flinch or I guess you could say my body 'ticks' and I don't know if it helps me forget crap or not but I still do it. Sometimes I don't have to be thinking of anything I just have so much anxiety and it feels like something built up inside of me and I just want to get it out really quick. Doesn't happen all the time, every day or even every week. Just sometimes.

[(JD)]

Welcome to psychcentral! Of course, we can't be sure what is going on with another member... but do you think it could also be body memory? Then again, part of it could be muscle relaxation/spasming! I suspect though, that it might be connected to hypervigilance? PTSD? all those things can be googled/yahoo'd searched.

[hereiam]

Sky, would you mind PMing me with more information on that? I tried searching for it but I seem to be getting the run around...

[(JD)]

Are you using google or yahoo? Type in Body Memories, or PTSD, or even Trauma Triggers... you should have plenty of resources.

[cms39]

I've been having something like this. It's more an obsessional thought over some kind of injury happening to me. It's very specific and it's bothering me quite a bit lately. My compulsion for it is just imaging the injurying-causing thing off of me - getting it away. Does anyone else have this? Or am I cuckoo?

[(JD)]

No, you're not cuckoo. It sounds like very real triggering and a PTSD type of reaction to a trauma. Our brains get really messed up when it happens... files memories in the wrong place, and it it's attempts to find a good spot for them, cause all sorts of triggering and reactions to connected data (and then also mis-filing those incidences.)

Can you tell what is causing the triggering? Anniversary of the injury? Reacquaintance of someone else involved? Driving past the area?

PTSD makes you feel like you're crazy. My T doesn't want me using that term, as it isn't me... it's the nature of the "beast" of PTSD>...