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Flashbacks Quotes

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Flashbacks Quotes

“We Close In Fifteen Minutes by Stewart Stafford Found myself the only taker, Of a minefield guided tour, Through no man's land life, Every exit is now invisible. Stardom magnified my flaws, A broken man lost in a maze, A deadly structure's hostage, A hermit in denial's labyrinth. Glimpse dwindling fragments, In the looking glass of hubris, Flounder in glossy quicksand, The solutions devoured whole. © Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.”

RegretFameLooking BackCelebrityHubrisStardomFlashbackCelebsFlashbacksDark Side Of Fame
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“There are two types of memory frequently experienced by individuals who have had overwhelming trauma that has been suppressed psychologically or chemically. The first is general memory, experienced as an adult, in which there is a natural recall of early events. The other is the memory that is often associated with post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS). The person suddenly smells, sees and feels as though he or she is actually living the event that took place months or years earlier. Many soldiers who survived horrifying combat experiences have PTSS. This has frequently been discussed in terms of Vietnam veterans who suddenly mentally find themselves in the jungle, hiding from the enemy or assaulting people they see as a threat. The fact that they have not been in Vietnam for decades and that they are experiencing the flashbacks in shopping malls, at home or at work does not change what they are mentally reliving. But PTSS has existed for centuries and has affected men, women and children in the midst of all wars, horrifying natural disasters and other traumatic experiences. This includes physical and sexual abuse when growing up. the PTSS Cheryl was experiencing more and more frequently, in which she found herself seeing, feeling and re-experiencing events from her childhood and adolescence had become overwhelming. She knew she needed to get help.”

HorrorAbuseStressMental HealthMemoryTraumaChild AbusePtsdOverwhelmedSexual AbuseRapeSoldiersSexual AssaultTraumaticFlashbacksPtss
Book:Secret Weapons: How Two Sisters Were Brainwashed to Kill for Their Country
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“Patrick hadn't been to a party since he was five years old, when the clamor of twenty over-sugared children in such disorganized proximity had led to a meltdown on a scale rarely witnessed during musical chairs. The very word 'party' had the power to trigger in him flashbacks of wailing classmates, overturned furniture, and a big brown dog gulping down spilled jelly.”

ChildrenHumorPartyClamorMeltdownsFlashbacksMusical Chairs
Book:Rubbernecker
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“She's terrified that all these sensations and images are coming out of her — but I think she's even more terrified to find out why." Carla's description was typical of survivors of chronic childhood abuse. Almost always, they deny or minimize the abusive memories. They have to: it's too painful to believe that their parents would do such a thing.”

HealingAbuseDenialChild AbuseSubconsciousPtsdAvoidanceAbuse SurvivorsSurvivorsSubconscious MindIncestHealing InsightsTraumatic ExperiencesChildhood AbuseTraumatizedChild RapePost Traumatic Stress DisorderDissociative AmnesiaHealing From AbuseMinimizingFlashbackAbusive ParentsHealing AbusePosttraumatic Stress DisorderDefense MechanismFlashbacksParental AbuseMinimizationDenial Of AbuseTrauma MemoriesDenial Of Child AbuseTraumatic MemoriesIntrusiveSadistic AbuseDenial Of IncestReliving The PastPsychological DefenceAbusive ChildhoodMinimizing IssuesDissociated AmnesiaFear Of Truth
Author:David L. Calof
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“Punishments include such things as flashbacks, flooding of unbearable emotions, painful body memories, flooding of memories in which the survivor perpetrated against others, self-harm, and suicide attempts.”

HealingCuttingRecoveryProgrammingSuicidalDissociative Identity DisorderDissociationMind ControlSurvivorsSelf HarmRitual AbuseSatanic Ritual AbuseDissociative DisorderSelf InjuryFlashbacksDdnosSuicide AttemptsOsddPunishmentsPersonality SystemBody Memories
Book:Healing the Unimaginable: Treating Ritual Abuse and Mind Control
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“As his boots walked towards the old station, he felt as though he were hallucinating. Scary apprehension increased the beat of his heart and the sweat upon his forehead was cold. The reality of where he stood created a sinking feeling inside of him. An old man everyone called Uncle Tucker once owned this place. His sole existence behind the counter all of the time, day and night. He could have been a creature out of a fairy tale, with his long white beard and equally long white hair. Merlin. The overalls and the ball cap perched upon his head, along with the half-smoked cigar with an endless burning orb positioned in his mouth. It made him a fixture in time. He wondered if Tucker would still be alive. Tucker with his endless stories of the 1960s, the Vietnam War, and flower children. A man that never left a country thousands of miles away where bicycles filled the capital. A man who never left those fields where killing occurred.”

AgeTimeAgingTraumaPtsdVietnam WarThe PastFlashbacks
Book:The Delta Highway
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“I spent many years trying to make up reasons about why I had the flashbacks, memories, continuous nightmares. When I finally decided to quit trying to hide from truth, I began to heal.”

RealityTruthHealingAbuseTraumaHealSurvivorChild AbusePtsdNightmaresFacing The TruthFacing RealityFlashbacksHiding From The Past
Book:Amongst Ourselves: A Self-Help Guide to Living with Dissociative Identity Disorder
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“Carla's description was typical of survivors of chronic childhood abuse. Almost always, they deny or minimize the abusive memories. They have to: it's too painful to believe that their parents would do such a thing. So they fragment the memories into hundreds of shards, leaving only acceptable traces in their conscious minds. Rationalizations like "my childhood was rough," "he only did it to me once or twice," and "it wasn't so bad" are common, masking the fact that the abuse was devastating and chronic. But while the knowledge, body sensations, and feelings are shattered, they are not forgotten. They intrude in unexpected ways: through panic attacks and insomnia, through dreams and artwork, through seemingly inexplicable compulsions, and through the shadowy dread of the abusive parent. They live just outside of consciousness like noisy neighbors who bang on the pipes and occasionally show up at the door.”

HealingAbuseMental HealthAddictionMental IllnessDenialSurvivorChild AbuseDreadSubconsciousPtsdAlcoholismInsomniaAvoidanceDissociationAbuse SurvivorsNightmaresSurvivorsIncestHealing InsightsFragmentedTraumatic ExperiencesChildhood AbuseConscious AwarenessRationalizationMental DisorderTraumatizedPanic AttacksDissociative DisorderAlcohol AddictionSelf ProtectionChild RapeDissociative AmnesiaHealing From AbuseMinimizingFlashbackAbusive ParentsHealing AbuseTrauma MemoryDefense MechanismFlashbacksParental AbuseEffects Of Child AbuseMinimizationDenial Of AbuseTrauma MemoriesDenial Of Child AbuseTraumatic MemoriesAbusive ParentIntrusiveSadistic AbuseDenial Of IncestIncestuousPsychological DefenceBad ChildhoodIrrational FearsAbusive ChildhoodIntrusionsMinimizing IssuesDissociated AmnesiaCompulsionsCompulsive EatingFear Of TruthBody MemoriesCompulsive BehaviorCompulsive OvereatingSeemingly Inexplicable BehaviorSex Addition
Book:The Couple Who Became Each Other: Stories of Healing and Transformation from a Leading Hypnotherapist
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“When I first started to remember specific memories of abuse, I felt like I had a storm cloud over me for about two or three days beforehand. When the memory finally surfaced, I felt like I was alone in a dark cave. I stayed in bed just thinking and crying and eating chocolate. I wrote in my healing journal and talked it out with a friend. I examined what I thought and how I felt and cried some more. It was agonizing. The more issues I faced, the stronger I got. It wasn’t a pleasant process, but I knew it would be over in a few days and I would feel alive again. With each memory, I recovered faster and I had longer and longer breaks in between them. Facing them made me stronger. I was able to see more and more of the truth without it overwhelming me. Even though the memories increased in intensity, it was easier to deal with them.”

Child Sexual AbuseSurvivorsIncestTraumatic ExperiencesRepressed MemoriesAbuse SurvivorRecovered MemoriesFlashbacks
Book:The Rescued Soul: The Writing Journey for the Healing of Incest and Family Betrayal
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“Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) also has dissociative symptoms as an essential feature. PTSD has been classically seen as a biphasic disorder, with persons alternately experiencing phases of intrusion and numbing... [T]he intrusive phase is associated with recurrent and distressing recollections in thoughts or dreams and reliving the events in flashbacks. The avoidant/numbing phase is associated with efforts to avoid thoughts or feelings associated with the trauma, emotional constriction, and social withdrawal. This biphasic pattern is the result of dissociation; traumatic events are distanced and dissociated from usual conscious awareness in the numbing phase, only to return in the intrusive phase.”

PtsdNumbDissociationTraumatizedPosttraumatic Stress DisorderAvoidantTraumatic StressFlashbacksDissociatedIntrusive Thoughts
Book:Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Treating Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders
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“Much, much later. when I am back home and being treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I will be enabled to see what was going on in my mind immediately after 11 August. I am still capable of operating mechanically as a soldier in these following days. But operating mechanically as a soldier is now all I am capable of. Martin says he is worried about me. He says I have the thousand-yard stare'. Of course, I cannot see this stare. But by now we both have more than an idea what it means. So, among all the soldiers here, this is nothing to be ashamed of. But as it really does just go with the territory we find ourselves in. it is just as equally not a badge of honour. Martin is seasoned enough to never even think this. but I know of young men back home, sitting in front of war films and war games, who idolise this condition as some kind of mark of a true warrior. But from where I sit, if indeed I do have this stare, this pathetically naive thinking is a crock of shit. Because only some pathetically naive soul who had never felt this nothingness would say something so fucking dumb. You are no longer human, with all those depths and highs and nuances of emotion that define you as a person. There is no feeling any more, because to feel any emotion would also be to beckon the overwhelming blackness from you. My mind has now locked all this down. And without any control of this self-defence mechanism my subconscious has operated. I do not feel any more. But when I close my eyes. I see the dead Taliban looking into this blackness. And I see the Afghan soldier's face staring into it, singing gently as he slips into another world. And I see Dave Hicks's face. shaking gently as he tries to stay awake in this one. With this, I lift myself up, sitting foetal and hugging my knees on my sleeping mat.”

MilitaryArmySoldierWarriorDumbNothingnessPtsdNaiveNumbDetachedTraumatizedDissociativePost Traumatic Stress DisorderFlashbackPosttraumatic Stress DisorderMilitary QuoteIdolizedDepersonalizationTraumatic StressFlashbacksUnemotionalStareTrue WarriorCombat PtsdMechanicalEmotionlessNo Longer HumanIdolisationWounded WarriorsWarrior QoutesPosttraumaticDead InsidePosttraumatic StressAutomatonRoboticDissociated StateCasualty Of WarMilitary PsychiatryDepersonalizedThousand Yard StareAcute Stress ReactionArmy In AfghanistanArmy QuoteCrock Of ShitDepersonalisedNaive Soul
Book:Among You: The Extraordinary True Story of a Soldier Broken By War
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“In 2017, after the Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault scandal went viral, the #MeToo movement grew like wildfire. It triggered my trauma. Flashbacks of horrific injustice. Old memories resurfaced.”

Painful MemoriesSexual ViolenceRape SurvivorMetooPtsd RecoveryFlashbacksSexual TraumaMe Too MovementBreak The SilenceHollywood Sex Scandals
Book:Sacred Wandering: Growing Your Faith In The Dark
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“If we ignore our abuse and trauma, it will continue to reveal itself to us. It may be subtle or it may be intense. Trauma can show up in our sleep. We may battle insomnia and nightmares. We can experience physical pain and emotional distress. We may struggle with anxiety and depression. Or we may suffer hypervigilance, dissociation, and Complex PTSD/PTSD. We may have flashbacks. We may battle triggers. Or we can suddenly be slammed with fight, flight, freeze, or fawn mode. Each of these signs are a normal trauma response. Even if we are unaware that it’s linked to our emotional trauma.”

AbuseTraumaChild AbusePtsdTriggersDissociationNarcissistic AbuseFlashbacksHypervigilanceFight Flight Freeze Fawn
Book:Soul Rescue: How to Break Free From Narcissistic Abuse & Heal Trauma
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“The traumatic moment becomes encoded in an abnormal form of memory, which breaks spontaneously into consciouness, both as flashbacks during waking states and as traumatic nightmares during sleep. Small, seemingly insignificant reminders can also evoke these memories, which often return with all the vividness and emotional force of the original event. Thus, even normally safe environments may come to feel dangerous, for the survivor can never be assured that she will not encounter some reminder of the trauma.”

MemoryTraumaPtsdTriggersNightmaresTraumatic ExperiencesTraumatizedRepressed MemoriesRecovered MemoriesTrauma MemoryTraumatic StressFlashbacksTrauma MemoriesTraumatization
Book:Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
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“Because of dissociation, many victims are able to remember the abuse only when a certain object, smell, color, scene, or experience triggers a sudden, severe reaction. During a flashback one seems to see, feel, hear, smell, or taste something from the past as if it were actually happening in the present. In a visual flashback, you actually see the scene of your abuse, or you may see an object or image that reminds you or is symbolic of your abuse.”

PtsdTriggersDissociationAbuse SurvivorsDissociativeFlashbacksReliving The Past
Author:Beverly Engel
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“All night long Alec sat in his chair in his pyjamas and dressing gown, socks on his feet to keep out the cold, a cigarette in his fingers with a long ash hovering over a half-full ashtray. He attempted to go to bed but the incident with Father Joe kept his mind in turmoil. This girl, well, woman now – she would be around thirty – was a mystery during the war. She was kidnapped, it was thought, from her school, the day the Germans entered Paris. Her uncle, Sir Jason Barrett MP, was in England; her step-parents were somewhere else in France, on holiday, and found they could not get back; and Charlotte was being cared for by a Swedish couple, a nanny or housekeeper and her chauffeur husband. Was Charlotte actually Freya? What had this baron fellow to do with Freya, apart from marrying her? Had she been a prostitute? And what was the old cleric babbling on about “finding her and protecting her”? From whom?”

European HistoryFlashbacksTruth SeekersFalse AppearancesHaunting PastPost War FictionAmateurs In DangerLove Against OddsUrban MysteryVengeful Motives
Book:The Wasp Trap
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“As modern neurobiologists point out, the repetition of the traumatic experience in the flashbacks can be itself re-traumatizing; if not life-threatening, it is at least threatening to the chemical structure of the brain and can ultimately lead to deterioration. And this would also seem to explain the high suicide rate of survivor, for example, survivors of Vietnam.”

SuicideMental IllnessPtsdVietnam WarNeurobiologyPosttraumatic Stress DisorderFlashbacksSuicidalityVeterans AffairsVietnam VeteransRetraumatizationSuicide Rates
Book:Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History
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“If the men who paid me weren’t rapists, if this was all consensual sex, why am I traumatised by it? Why do I experience flashbacks with the same tone and texture as flashbacks I have had from being raped? I have had a lot of sex I regret having which I am not traumatised by. There is sometimes sadness, but not trauma. I experience trauma and flashbacks only in relation to sexual exploitation. Sex that didn’t involve money, in which I’ve felt dissociated, or didn’t feel like it, or when I didn’t stop something I wasn’t comfortable with has not traumatised me in the way sex-trade sex has – sex to which I ‘consented’.”

ConsentSexual AbuseRapeProstitutionSex WorkFlashbacksSex TradeSexual ExploitationSexual Trauma
Book:Any Girl: A Memoir of Sexual Exploitation and Recovery
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“The symptomatology of PTSD. In PTSD a traumatic event is not remembered and relegated to one's past in the same way as other life events. Trauma continues to intrude with visual, auditory, and/or other somatic reality on the lives of its victims. Again and again they relieve the life-threatening experiences they suffered, reacting in mind and body as though such events were still occurring. PTSD is a complex psychobiological condition.”

TraumaPtsdMind BodyPhysicalTrauma MemoryTraumaticFlashbacksSomaticThe Body Remembers
Book:The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment
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“I am continuously struck by how frequently the various thought processes of the inner critic trigger overwhelming emotional flashbacks. This is because the PTSD-derived inner critic weds shame and self-hate about imperfection to fear of abandonment, and mercilessly drive the psyche with the entwined serpents of perfectionism and endangerment. Recovering individuals must learn to recognize, confront and disidentify from the many inner critic processes that tumble them back in emotional time to the awful feelings of overwhelming fear, self-hate, hopelessness and self-disgust that were part and parcel of their original childhood abandonment.”

ShameImperfectionAbandonmentPerfectionismAbuse SurvivorsSurvivorsHealing InsightsSelf CriticismSelf HateComplex PtsdFlashbacksSelf Disgust
Author:Pete Walker
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“Memory has ambushed her again, slamming down a wall between her and the present moment. Sometimes it comes in order, like a story, sometimes in flashes, like a series of snapshots. Sometimes it comes in a split second, cutting through the middle of another thought. It grabs her and won't let her pay attention to what is being said around her. Other times it just settles softly down on her like a pillow, cutting off air.”

MemoryTraumaPtsdTraumatic StressFlashbacksTraumatic MemoriesLittle Wrecks
Author:Meredith Miller
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“Trauma destroys the fabric of time. In normal time you move from one moment to the next, sunrise to sunset, birth to death. After trauma, you may move in circles, find yourself being sucked backwards into an eddy or bouncing like a rubber ball from now to then to back again. ... In the traumatic universe the basic laws of matter are suspended: ceiling fans can be helicopters, car exhaust can be mustard gas.”

TimeMental IllnessPtsdTraumatic ExperiencesMental DisorderTraumatizedVeteransTrauma SurvivorsPost Traumatic Stress DisorderMilitary QuoteTraumatic StressFlashbacksCombat PtsdMilitary PsychiatryMental Distress
Book:The Evil Hours: A Biography of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
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“This reorienting is not an attempt to avoid or discount clients' pain and ongoing suffering. Rather, it is a means to help them observe, firsthand, how their chronic orienting tendencies toward reminders of the past recreate the trauma-related experience of danger and powerlessness, whereas choosing to orient to a good feeling can result in an experience of safety and mastery. As clients become able to do so the new objects of orientation often become more defined and & Goodman 1951). Rather than attention being drawn repeatedly to physical pain or traumatic activation, the good feeling becomes more prominent in the client's awareness. This exercise of reorienting toward a positive stimulus can surprise and reassure clients that they are not imprisoned indefinitely in an inner world of chronic traumatic reexperiencing, and that they have more possibilities and control than they had imagined. These orienting exercises need to be practiced again and again for mastery.”

PsychotherapyPowerlessnessTraumatic ExperiencesTraumatizedFlashbacksTrauma TherapySensorimotor Therapy
Book:Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy
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