Weird mental associations making me feel very uneasy

Hello everyone,

I have a very strange problem and I have had no luck so far trying to find out what it could be because it's very difficult to describe it, but I will try.

Let me first tell you that I have always had a thing for mental associations. I can look at something or listen to a song and experience strong feelings towards it or have vivid associations, be it with real-life things or fantasy places in my head. It's never been a problem for me, I've had it all my life, and it actually helps me with my creative work and I think I am able to paint abstract pictures because of my abilities to "feel".

However, recently I started experiencing very bizarre associations. It al began about 4 years ago when I was on the internet and saw a particular artwork on an artist's website. It was an interesting, comic-like protrait of someone and I felt intrigued by it. It had many details and I started looking into them, and then suddenly I started feeling very uneasy. It was as if the picture was emitting bad vibes, so I closed the website didn't look at it again.

Since then, I've started getting these exact same "bad vibes" that the picture had from other things as well (but not always): street lights throwing light at snow, graffitti on brick walls, some of the 80s synth-pop music (bizarrely) and so on. Every time it sends chills down my spine. From what I could find on the Internet, it kind of fits the description of PTSD when certain things can trigger traumatic memories. The problem is: I don’t have any traumatic memories that could fit into this! I have no idea why these random things keep triggering me, even though it does feel like I have a personal connection with them. A friend jokingly suggested that I could be experiencing memories from my past life. Well, I’m not really buying this theory, and I want to find the psychological explanation behind this.

Oh, and the most bizarre thing about this is that I experience these "bad vibes" only in late autumn and winter, when it is already dark outside. In summer, I almost forget about these experiences and struggle to remember what the fuss was all about. However, today I had my first confrontation with this feeling again, so I guess the season is opened again. I was listening to some 80s music and suddenly had a strong the feeling of dread. These attacks usually last for a few seconds but can leave me anxious for minutes or hours, depending on how much I focus on it.

Does anyone have any clue what it could be and how I could cope with it?