[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-133001-105":59,"doc-detail-133001-en":125},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":118,"head_meta":120,"extra_data":122,"updated_unix":124},105,"en","flashbacks-uniquely-characterise-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-distinguishing-flashbacks-from-other-psychological-processes-and-phenomena","Flashbacks uniquely characterise post-traumatic stress disorder - distinguishing flashbacks from other psychological processes and phenomena","","Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) shows heterogeneous presentations, and many diagnostic criteria and symptoms overlap with other psychiatric diagnoses. Flashbacks are often treated as the only symptom unique to PTSD, yet no consensus definition has led to divergent meanings, misunderstanding, and likely treatment planning problems. This Refreshment reviews DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 flashback definitions and summarizes dual representation theory, aiming to improve understanding, assessment, and diagnosis of PTSD.",{"@graph":69,"@context":117},[70,84,100],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/flashbacks-uniquely-characterise-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-distinguishing-flashbacks-from-other-psychological-processes-and-phenomena/133001/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"author":86,"headline":65,"publisher":89,"fileFormat":92,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":93,"datePublished":94,"encodingFormat":92,"isAccessibleForFree":95,"interactionStatistic":96},"DigitalDocument",{"name":87,"@type":88},"Rowan","Person",{"url":74,"name":90,"@type":91},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-11","2026-08-20",true,{"@type":97,"interactionType":98,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":99},"ViewAction",{"@type":101,"mainEntity":102},"FAQPage",[103,109,113],{"name":104,"@type":105,"acceptedAnswer":106},"Why is defining “flashbacks” important for PTSD care?","Question",{"text":107,"@type":108},"Flashbacks lack an official consensus definition, so different people use the term differently. This drives misunderstanding and miscommunication that can affect appropriate treatment planning.","Answer",{"name":110,"@type":105,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How do DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 define flashbacks?",{"text":112,"@type":108},"DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 treat flashbacks as an inclusive meaning equivalent to reliving or re-experiencing when awake. They describe a continuum from brief, fleeting reoccurrences to extreme episodes with disconnection from the present self and surroundings.",{"name":114,"@type":105,"acceptedAnswer":115},"What makes flashbacks unique compared with other PTSD-related symptoms?",{"text":116,"@type":108},"Flashbacks are described as the only symptom unique to PTSDs. They involve vivid, decontextualised, highly distressing multisensory/perceptual material that feels like the past is occurring again in the present.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":119,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":90,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":121,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":123,"site_id":62},133001,1787212497,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":126},{"doc_id":123,"user_id":127,"nickname":87,"user_avatar":128,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":129,"file_id":130,"file_url":131,"file_type":132,"file_size":133,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":14,"language":134,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":135,"faqs":136,"seo_title":137,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":124,"read_time":24},1099514067415,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/100002539d78ffe74a7?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779092875211072502","BJPsych Advances (2025), page 1 of 2 doi: 10.1192/bja.2025.3  \nFlashbacks uniquely characterise post-traumatic stress disorder: distinguishing flashbacks from other psychological processes and phenomena  \nAndy P. Siddaway   \nSUMMARY  \nThe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis encompasses heterogeneous presentations, many of the diagnostic criteria are not traumarelated and almost all PTSD symptoms are common to several psychiatric diagnoses. Flashbacks are the only symptom unique to PSTD. However, the absence of a consensus definition of flashbacks means that this term means different things to different people, causing misunderstanding and miscommunication, and presumably affecting treatment. This Refreshment discusses how flashbacks are defined in DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 (essentially, as reliving/re-experiencing when awake) and briefly describes the dual representation theory’s account of flashbacks. In discussing what flashbacks are and are not, it aims to promote improved understanding, assessment and diagnosis of PTSDs.  \nKEYWORDS  \nPost-traumatic stress disorder; flashback; reexperiencing; intrusion; diagnosis.  \nPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common consequence of trauma exposure that can profoundly disrupt life. The PTSD diagnosis has repeatedly expanded over time; ICD-11’s approach has been to differentiate ‘PTSD’ and ‘complex PTSD’ ‘sibling’ diagnoses. PTSD is complex to diagnose. For example, many of the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for PTSDs are not trauma-related and almost all PTSD symptoms are transdiagnostic (i.e. common to several mental health problems/diagnoses) (Siddaway 2024) . Of all aspects of PTSD, ‘flashbacks’ are perhaps the most amorphous and widely misunderstood.  \nDefinition in the DSM and ICD  \nFlashbacks have been defined differently over time and continue to mean different things to different people, causing widespread misunderstanding and miscommunication, and presumably impacting appropriate treatment planning. Clinicians and patients both use the word ‘flashbacks’ to describe a wide variety of cognitive phenomena related to distressing or traumatic past experiences.  \nThe general absence of an official definition of flashbacks to date has created uncertainty about whether this term should be reserved for extreme episodes or broadened to include all intrusive memories that are accompanied by a sense of reliving an event in the present, even if only fleeting (Brewin 2015) . DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 have opted for the latter approach: assigning flashbacks an inclusive, overarching meaning that is synonymous with reliving/re-experiencing when awake – thereby rendering‘reliving,’ ‘re-experiencing’ and ‘flashbacks’ interchangeable synonyms. Flashbacks are understood in DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 as existing on a continuum that ranges from fleeting (a transient sense of traumatic experience(s) reoccurring in the present) to extreme (total disconnection from the current autobiographical self and one’s present surroundings for minutes or longer) . Thus, at present, the flashback nomenclature encapsulates intrusive trauma memories even though flashbacks and intrusive memories are included as separate diagnostic symptoms/criteria in DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 PTSDs.  \nDifferential diagnosis  \nFlashbacks are the only symptom unique to PTSDs (Siddaway 2024) . They involve vivid, decontextualised, highly distressing multisensory/perceptual material (usually images, but commonly also sounds, smells, tastes, bodily sensations, actions  \nREFRESHMENT  \nAndy P. Siddaway, Clin.Psych, PhD, CPsychol, AFBPsS, is a consultant clinical psychologist. He works parttime in the NHS and part-time as an expert witness in private practice. He specialises in the areas of trauma/ adversity. He is chair of the British Psychological Society Expert Witness Advisory Group and an honorary senior lecturer in the School of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.  \nCorrespondence Andy  \nP. Siddaway. Email andysiddaway. ","cbCaieEJvz9rO8Dq","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieEJvz9rO8Dq","pdf",100541,"English","# Definition in the DSM and ICD\n## Differential diagnosis\n## Understanding what flashbacks are not","[{\"question\":\"Why is defining “flashbacks” important for PTSD care?\",\"answer\":\"Flashbacks lack an official consensus definition, so different people use the term differently. This drives misunderstanding and miscommunication that can affect appropriate treatment planning.\"},{\"question\":\"How do DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 define flashbacks?\",\"answer\":\"DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 treat flashbacks as an inclusive meaning equivalent to reliving or re-experiencing when awake. They describe a continuum from brief, fleeting reoccurrences to extreme episodes with disconnection from the present self and surroundings.\"},{\"question\":\"What makes flashbacks unique compared with other PTSD-related symptoms?\",\"answer\":\"Flashbacks are described as the only symptom unique to PTSDs. They involve vivid, decontextualised, highly distressing multisensory/perceptual material that feels like the past is occurring again in the present.\"}]","Flashbacks uniquely characterise post-traumatic stress disorder - distinguishing flashbacks from other psychological processes and phenomena | PDF"]