“What Role Do Flashbacks Have in the Healing Process?”

My family went through a  serious trauma last year. As we’re approaching the same time of year again, many of us are having flashbacks. That’s beside the triggering effect of certain songs, which brings us back to those hard days. What role do flashbacks have in the healing process, if any, and what’s the best way to deal with them?

Our brains and bodies are meant to handle different levels of stress. With just a small amount of sympathetic nervous system involvement, we’ll be awake and energized enough to handle “daily stress” — to dash from task to task, using all of our cognitive capacities to problem-solve, recall, organize, and otherwise fulfill our responsibilities.

However, when we’re faced with intense levels of stress — the type we encounter during traumatic events — our brains and bodies are subject to different processes altogether. The brain mobilizes all of its attention to dealing with the emergency situation. Certain routine brain activities, including creating and storing memories, get interrupted. This is why people sometimes don’t remember traumatic events in a coherent way, but instead have fragments (sounds, pictures, emotions, body sensations) of memories.

Some of these memory fragments will only be recalled (triggered) when prompted by reminders of the original trauma. Sights, sounds, tastes, and experiences reminiscent of the events can all lead to flashbacks — an intense re-experiencing, rather than “remembering,” that is often painful and overwhelming.