# How Common is it for People to Have Flashbacks?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-have-flashbacks/139224
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 27, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-have-flashbacks/139224 "2002-11-27T22:34:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [November 27, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-have-flashbacks/139224/1 "2002-11-27T22:34:44Z")
I have what I call flashbacks, but I don’t know if they truly fit the definition. They don’t totally overwhelm my senses, but they can come close. Generally, they seem to be triggered by smells, but other things can trigger them as well. I’m also wondering if I should be worried about having them (the experiences have all been pleasant so far) and if they are dangerous, then what if anything can I do about 'em?
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2002, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-have-flashbacks/139224/2 "2002-11-28T00:21:55Z")
Marcel Proust in _À la recherche du temps perdu_, which is about rediscovering the past talks about a similar sensation.
The novel’s protagonist recalls that on Sundays as a child, his aunt used to give him a piece of madeleine dipped in her tea. Years later he dipped a madeleine in tea and, “immediately, the old gray house on the street, where her room was rose up like a stage set…and the entire town, with its people, and houses, gardens, church, and surroundings taking shape and solidity, sprang into being from my cup of tea.”
There is some nice stuff about smell and memory
[here](http://www.hhmi.org/senses/d110.html).
In my psych nursing days I had plenty of experience with people suffering from flashbacks, the key word being suffering. I don’t recall anyone having pleasant flashbacks. If yours remain pleasant I’d be inclined to treat them as a Proustian bonus.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-have-flashbacks/139224/3 "2002-11-28T05:21:24Z")
Interesting stuff, and nice to know that I’m not completely crazy.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2002, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-have-flashbacks/139224/4 "2002-11-28T10:48:07Z")
A person I know very well is currently in the breakthrough process of identifying certain emotional experiences as flashbacks. I won’t talk about details, because it isn’t my place to do so. However, you may find a general description of her situation informative.
Basically, she is learning that when she is in circumstances roughly analogous to past events, she finds that this triggers a return to the emotional state of that past experience, and she then relives that previous emotion in the current situation, whether or not that emotion is appropriate for the present. In other words, she’s beginning to realize that, occasionally, she has an emotional response that has more to do with the prior event than the current circumstance, and that the best way to describe this is a flashback. She isn’t consciously recalling the past event, but she’s replaying her past emotional experience — somewhat like a soundtrack — in response to a triggering event that subconsciously reminds her of that previous situation.
Sorry for the vagueness, but the specifics of her life are not mine to reveal. Still, I hope that this general description strikes a chord of recognition, so you know that your own experience is not an uncommon one.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-have-flashbacks/139224/5 "2002-11-28T11:30:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by don’t ask \*
> \*\*Marcel Proust in _À la recherche du temps perdu_, which is about rediscovering the past talks about a similar sensation.
>
> The novel’s protagonist recalls that on Sundays as a child, his aunt used to give him a piece of madeleine dipped in her tea.\*\*
What is a madeleine, you ask? It’s like a small cake that has grated lemon and orange rind in it. Wonderfully fragrant.
About 10 years ago, the café within the local Borders Books at Tysons Corner was offering madeleines for literary aficionados to munch while reading their Proust. I had one then. Now, all I need to do is find another madeleine somehow, and munch it (with espresso), and I shall immediately be transported back to that magical Borders Books café of 10 years ago.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-have-flashbacks/139224/6 "2002-11-28T12:43:20Z")
I too occasionally have flashbacks; sometimes triggered by smells, sometimes by a sound.
I’ve never worried about them, nor do I think you should, unless you find them to be obstacles obstacles to coping with current situations. Have you failed to accomplish or complete a task because you were dwelling on the past. Do they happen at times when it might be dangerous, such as driving down the highway? Do you feel paralysed for a significant amount of time while experiencing them? If not, son;t sweat it. Enjoy.
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### Author:  [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-for-people-to-have-flashbacks/139224/7 "2002-11-28T12:58:12Z")
It’s very, VERY common for people who have suffered some kind of trauma to have flashbacks, and they are most often triggered by either a smell or a sound.
If the flashbacks are pleasant - enjoy. Should the nature of them change and they become distressing, seek help when they first start. If they are flashbacks which render you incapable of functioning as a responsible adult while they are happening, then even if they are enjoyable, seeking help is appropriate.