That question is one of the most frequently asked of crisis counselors at rape crisis centers. Many survivors of assault suffer with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and repeatedly re-experience their trauma in the form of flashback episodes, including memories, nightmares, or frightening thoughts. This can be triggered by a familiar setting, a scent, an event, an object, or even a voice which is reminiscent of the trauma. Anniversaries of the event can also trigger flashbacks.
Flashbacks can completely immobilize a survivor. During this episode, you will be "in the moment", just as you were during the attack. You may become totally unaware of your actual surroundings, and believe you are re-living the past. For this reason, it's vital that you know various methods of grounding yourself to the present.
Facing the Flashback
Tell yourself you are having a flashback and that this is okay and very normal in people who were traumatized as children (or as adults.)
Remind yourself that the worst is over - it happened in the past, but is not happening now. The "child" inside you who was abused is giving you these memories to use in your healing and, however terrible you feel, you survived the awfulness then, which means you can survive and get through what you are remembering now.
Call on the "adult" part of yourself to tell your "child" that she is not alone, not in any danger now, and that you will help her get through this. Let your child self know it's okay to remember and to feel what she feels and that this will help her in healing from what had happened to her. However hard it is for you, she is communicating in the only way she can.
Grounding Methods
Try some of these ways of "grounding" yourself and becoming more aware of the present:
~ stamp your feet, grind them around on the floor to remind yourself where you are now.
~ look around the room, noticing the colours, the people, the shapes of things.
~ listen to the sounds around you: the traffic, voices, the washing machine etc.
~ feel your body, the boundary of your skin, your clothes, the chair or floor supporting you.
~ have an elastic band to hand (or on your wrist) - you can "ping" it against your wrist and feel it on your skin - that feeling is in the now, the things you are re-experiencing were in the past.
Go To Page: 1 2
