I have come to believe that when this happens to me, it is not the traumatic event my sub-conscious is after, but a surrounding memory which is being blocked by the traumatic event. The little gems which get caught in the mind slides.

Have you ever watched the TV series, "The Dead Zone?" It shows something like what I shoot for when I experience repeat triggers like you describe. It has happened often in the course of healing my amnesia. I try to "freeze-frame" the traumatic memory and let my attention to what is happening around the event. The small gem I never meant to forget.

Just me. Hope you find yours, Jasgall.

I truly believe with all my heart and soul that flashbacks and nightmares are our mind and spirits way of reminding us that we have those issues that still need to be dealt with.

I went through brutal flashbacks and it was like I was reliving them all over again complete with the pain, smell and emotions involved. I started to talk about them with my counsellor but still they haunted me. Once I started to grieve and let those tears out as well as allow myself to experience all the emotions involved, then one by one those flashbacks/dreams started to fade away. It was a very painful process but well worth the grief. I still have some more to grieve but now most of those memories no longer hold me hostage. Sad yes, but I have regained control.

I know their terrifying yet keep working through them and I'm sure they fade away someday for you too. Hang in there, Blaine

I still have them, but like Buffalo talking about them has lessened their severity, in therapy and here, too. That's why I come here every day rain or shine.

Thanks guys. I don't know what you mean by "hidden gem memories". I do know that stress, physical pain, ED symptoms, and depression make my PTSD worse.

Hidden Gem...when a flashback opens the door to a point where the abuse originated, a place to start the healing...understanding of your own control or lack of that helps you.

At least that has been my experience.
hugs today for understanding.
Jewells

I suffered total amnesia of my childhood, so my case is extreme, but an example of a hidden gem would be sweet grass mulch. Sweet grass is any grass which smells sweet when you cut it.

Last Spring I was having an unmerciful series to nights spent in fields in my early elementary school years because I was afraid to go home and sleep indoors. The correlation was a grass which was growing prolifically in my new yard. It was a grass my mother had taught me to use as a garden mulch. It was also my favorite for sleeping in. My garden looked terrific after I pulled the sweet grass and used it to create a thatch mulch for the beds.

No biggie. Just a small gem too long buried in the mind slide.