This is self-work, and I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford.

At self-work, we discuss psychological and emotional issues and what you can do about them,

whether that's learning self-acceptance, taking action, or seeking therapy or treatment.

Eight years ago, I extended the walls of my practice to reach those of you who might already be knowledgeable about middle

health treatment, but also to those of you who might say, you'd never darken the door of a therapist.

And yet, you are here. I'll answer your questions while I invite you to take a few minutes for your

own self-work. So since you're going back to your trauma, maybe you blamed yourself for it,

and that very blame is keeping you stuck in the trauma. Your therapist will help you take into

account all the things that were beyond your control.

So hopefully you can move forward, knowing deep down it wasn't your fault,

despite things you did or didn't do.

Welcome to this week's edition of Self-Work.

Flashbacks are a primary symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, as well as C-PTSD,

which is more complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

And they're extremely frightening to have.

What are they?

When you're having a flashback, you're experiencing the frightening event or trauma all over

again. Some are all of your senses are telling you it's happening now. This is called sensory immersion. You might see, hear, smell, or feel the trauma as if it's happening now. You can have an intense, dramatic emotional response of fear, panic, dread, or feeling numb. Your heart can

race. You can sweat or tremble. This part may feel like a panic attack. And you can feel very

disoriented, like you're frozen or somehow detached or separate from yourself. A listener wrote in

and told me she was having frequent flashbacks, but also asked me not to read

her email on air. So, of course, I'm respecting that. But she was asking me to talk more specifically

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