Flashbacks

Hi all,

I was browsing a social networking site and came across someone who'd made the following post:

Help! I often flash back to horrible humiliating or severely regretful moments from my life. It happens often and I cringe, tense up and have a mini crisis episode. WTF is wrong with me! Its intrusive and I want it to stop!

I've got AS which is whole different kettle of fish but I get these flashback moments as well which is a pain as my teenage years provide a large body of fuel for the fire. When I was a lot younger I had the classic OCD hand washing, door checking etc., but these were resolved in my 20's. Until reading the above post, didn't see the flashbacks as anything out of the ordinary.

How do you deal with this?

Hi, Joolz! Flashbacks are often associated with post traumatic stress. Maybe they can have to do with OCD as well, but it might be a good idea to deal with them as most people deal with memories of trauma. You could talk to someone who understands about them and when you're feeling down, you can remind yourself of where you are and of the fact that you're safe now. You could keep a diary and write down about how who hurt you can't hurt you any more and about how storng you've gotten every time you fight a flashback. It'd be a good idea to get some therapy as well, if you can find a good psych.

Hi jasmin,

Thanks for the reply. The only thing that bought me to this particular forum was a comment about a form of OCD that manifests itself internally and without the externalised rituals of what is normally understood as OCD. I do have a definite negative streak and a real tendency to beat myself up over stuff so I can really relate to it. It just never dawned on me that this was in any way unusual.

Yah, ocd comes with intrusive thoughts too, I guess. I used to get them a lot, but I was never diagnosed with anything.