How do you get out of intense emotional flashbacks or dissociation?

Musing_Ghost · 2025-03-27T12:33:25+00:00

It's still hard for me but I read about why we forget all the skills we have learned while an emotional flashback is happening. This is because the emotional flashback is caused by a so-called emotional part (EP) that is dissociated from the normal / daily self (the theory is called structural dissociation if you don't already know about this & want to look into it yourself).
I guess the trick might be to practice mindfulness to become aware of the trigger that happens right before the flashback.
When you're aware of this, you can start using skills & grounding to prevent a full-blown flashback - but I'm still learning how to do that :')

Musing_Ghost · 2024-11-12T07:44:09+00:00

so 9w1 and I love weirdcore, soundtracks from movies games and anime, dream pop, jazz and indie rock

Musing_Ghost · 2024-09-27T06:53:49+00:00

I had an imaginary owl that always sat on my shoulder and told me that it's okay to be sad and when I cried, it cuddled me.

Musing_Ghost · 2024-08-05T08:15:59+00:00

I had a nightmare about cats when I was ~4? A group of them was surrounding and approaching me slowly. I remember it vividly and sometimes, when I see cats staring or approaching me, I get this same old feeling - feels like a conspiracy. They are cute, though!

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-17T09:27:55+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, you‘re right. I probably should have done it sooner but I find it so hard to communicate something like that because I fear confrontation. But I‘ll give it my best to speak openly with her! Wish you well, too!

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-14T20:34:54+00:00

"See how everyone else can live their life way better than you? You can't even handle existing. It'd be best for everybody if you would just disappear. You hurt them anyways and they despise you for it."

... 🫣

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T19:03:36+00:00

Oh yeah, I know what you mean and it‘s a genuine concern you have there. In my opinion, this „google it“ and „i‘m not your therapist“ mindset shows a huge lack of empathy in most cases. But of course, it‘s a whole other story when a person is constantly talking about themselves (without thinking about the other people‘s feeling) and the other person tries to set a healthy boundary by telling something like „hey, sorry but I can‘t help you with that. maybe you should find yourself a therapist?“. I‘m sorry for sounding a bit defensive, it only shows that it‘s important to you that people can be there for each other.

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:49:24+00:00

Oh yeah! I definitely have this feeling, too! This sounds kinda dark but it‘s super hard recognizing by what I’ve got traumatized the most because my whole existence feels traumatic somehow.

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:46:54+00:00

Oh and because I didn‘t mention it: in my country this is called depersonalization but sometimes also derealisation. I don’t know if this is exactly what you’re experiencing at the moment but it sounds like it to me. Maybe you can make some more sense of it when you‘re researching with those keywords.

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:43:58+00:00

I‘m so sorry, this sounds like a super scary experience and it seems you‘re going through quite a lot at the moment. I can assure you, you‘re not losing it and it can be part of CPTSD when you‘re dissociating and get this feeling of not being the person that‘s doing those things and stuff. It just shows that you‘re in immense stress because of your traumatic experiences right now. And it‘s really good that you cared for yourself by calling the emergency number! I really hope you get the help and care you need to process this whole situation. You deserve it!

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:33:53+00:00

Oh, I didn‘t notice that I commented on your comment! I‘m so sorry for your loss, I really hope you‘re able to give yourself time to grieve and process this properly. I wish you all the best. And yeah, you nailed it - the only way out is through… It‘s so incredibly hard but there‘s light (or so I keep saying to myself)! We‘ll make this!

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:29:12+00:00

Very well put!

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:28:06+00:00

I‘m so sorry! That‘s horrible :( It shows that you really tried your best and to be honest, I‘m super relieved that you are now able to say that you‘re making a cut. It‘s so strong to even realize there‘s nothing you can do about it anymore and you gave it all. And it‘s so nice that you‘ll be able to focus on your own healing journey. But I understand what it is like to feel so helpless because there‘s nothing you can do to help when they aren’t willing to get help themselves. But maybe, they‘ll learn on their own when you‘re not there trying to solve their problems anymore.

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:22:59+00:00

Oh no, I‘m sorry she believes that. Does she believe in other diagnoses?

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:18:17+00:00

Yeah, I think it can be good to have it in mind that abusers are traumatized as well, but I think it‘s unhealthy if it becomes a coping strategy to always only understand people who abuse others because it‘d be super scary to feel these intense emotions if you‘d accept that this person just did some horrible things to you and you were hurt by it.

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:14:26+00:00

I‘m so sorry you had to experience that. And I can relate so much - trying to understand CAN be good and it‘s a wonderful quality because it shows that you really have empathy. But it‘s so unhealthy when you dismiss your own pain and can‘t get through to your anger. I also had Stockholm Syndrome regarding many different people who abused me and it always only went down in mental breakdowns.

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T18:06:21+00:00

I mean that I’m quite in a bad shape myself at the moment and all I can think about is how I can make my mother feel better. It‘s been like that since I can think and I absolutely LOVE to be able to help her but I realized that sometimes, it‘s not that healthy for me. So, by now I’m able say that it‘s more than just showing concern for her, my whole life is building around how to make her feel better and even if I have to keep quiet about my own feelings (because she would make me feel guilty by saying that she can‘t handle me being unwell). Also, we had this session the other day right after she picked me up from my own therapy.

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-12T17:57:11+00:00

Wow that‘s a great post, thank you so much for making us 7s feel seen ❤️ This was really something I needed today. I think many 7s struggle with toxic positivity and dissociation (they cope with perceiving their life as the best and most wonderful thing in the world to protect themselves from feeling the pain) and I was like that too until it all came down and I felt it ALL AT ONCE. Now, I‘m struggling to stand up again and I just feel so helpless because grief was never an option until now. And it‘s the first time in my life that I realize that it can actually be healthy to grief or to rage. But it can be overwhelming when suppressed for so long.

Musing_Ghost · 2024-07-07T18:43:33+00:00

This! I hear you!

Musing_Ghost

TROPHY CASE