Emotional Flashbacks - When the Past Ambushes You in the Present

You are having a normal Tuesday. You are at work, or in traffic, or making dinner. Nothing is wrong.

You are having a normal Tuesday. You are at work, or in traffic, or making dinner. Nothing is wrong.

And then something happens - a tone of voice, a facial expression, a particular quality of light, the smell of a detergent, a song on the radio - and without warning you are no longer a functional adult.

You are small. You are terrified. You are filled with a dread so enormous it has no edges, no name, no apparent cause. You cannot think clearly. You cannot regulate your emotions.

You are drowning in a feeling that seems wildly disproportionate to anything happening in the present moment. This is an emotional flashback.