Tag Archives: Sigmund Freud

What Are Flashbacks and Why Do They Happen?

Experienced trauma therapists know that persistent flashbacks are incredibly toxic; they frequently cause counter-productive coping, escalating depression, suicidality, clinical emergencies, and hospitalizations. Today’s question is not how to manage flashbacks, but something much more fundamental: “What the heck are they?” We know what … Continue reading

Posted in alterations of consciousness, defense, dissociation, dissociative subtype, DSM-IV, evolution, evolution-prepared dissociation, first-person accounts, flashbacks, neurobiology, PTSD, published/presented research, repression, trauma | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Are Flashbacks a Dissociative Symptom?

Dissociation is generally considered to be a defense mechanism because it distances us from painful or unacceptable realities (e.g., depersonalization, derealization) or it makes a painful reality disappear entirely (i.e., dissociative amnesia). Today’s thought question is: “Are flashbacks dissociative?” Do … Continue reading

Posted in defense, depersonalization, derealization, dissociation, dissociative disorders, DSM-IV, DSM5, first-person accounts, flashbacks, ICD-10, PTSD, repression, structural dissociation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 59 Comments

Are You Aware of the Disagreements About Dissociation?

We are in the midst of a largely unacknowledged disagreement about what dissociation is. A few parties to this disagreement are quite explicit about their difference of opinion (e.g., Steele, Dorahy, Van der Hart, & Nijenhuis, 2009). Most of us, … Continue reading

Posted in defense, dissociation, first-person accounts, PTSD, repression, structural dissociation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 33 Comments