Olfactory flashbacks stink. Literally.

Sometimes— a lot of the time, actually— a flashback isn’t what we traditionally think of as a “flashback.” 

We often think of a flashback as, like, an immersive movie— and often, it is like that. 

We feel yanked from the here-and-now, and deposited back-there, back-then— and every sense modality we have is pulled into reinforcing the experience. 

We see what we saw then; we hear what we heard then; and, in emotional flashbacks, we very much feel what we felt then. 

This type of flashback is very much like being trapped in a movie theater. The surround sound is cranked up, the screen in front of us is huge (maybe even 3D!), and sometimes the seat beneath is even rumbling with the intensity of the scene. 

Those flashbacks suck. They can be scary, disorienting, and even physically painful, as our physical body lurches into fight or flight mode in response. 

But there are types of flashbacks that don’t involve that intensive, immersive visual component. 

One of the most impactful of these flashbacks are olfactory flashbacks— literally, smelling things. 

Scent has particular power in sending us back to certain times and places. 

Almost everybody reading this can think of specific scents that yank them right back into the past. 

Sometimes we’re not even sure what a particular scent IS— but we know that on whiff sends us on a magic carpet ride (one that we didn’t necessarily choose). 

I can still smell my high school. I couldn’t tell you what that particular scent IS; but I know it when I smell it. 

I can still smell my grandparents’ house. Again, who knows what combination of things I’m actually remembering as that scent— but I know it when I smell it. 

Scent is actually DESIGNED, in the nervous system, to be an especially primal emotional trigger. The neural structures that carry scent information to the brain literally bypass neural architecture that the other senses need to check in with. 

That means when we smell something, we have less opportunity to interpret or process it. It hits us raw. Hard. 

When an olfactory trigger hits us, raw and hard, it often touches off an olfactory flashback— which isn’t visual, as we imagine traditional “flashbacks” to be. 

What happens is, we get flooded with smells from the past. 

If you’re reading this, you very likely know exactly what I mean. 

Even if the trigger is here-and-now, we’re actually smelling things from back-there, back-then…and the worst part is, we may very much not know what the hell it is we ARE smelling. 

We just know the feelings associated with those smells. 

Our nervous system knows full well what those smells are linked to. 

Olfactory flashbacks are particularly problematic because, unlike visual or auditory flashbacks, we can’t look around and readily identify the fact that we’re smelling something not-here, not-now. 

How many times we have smelled something, and had no idea where it was actually coming from? 

It’s thus really hard to reality check olfactory flashbacks. It’s hard to get grounded and contain what’s coming up. Often we don’t even realize we’re in a flashback— because no one told us a flashback can “look” like getting flooded with a smell. 

Our front line defenses against olfactory flashbacks are competing, chosen scents. Lots of survivors seem to like citrus scents for this purpose. Many survivors swear by essential oils, scented markers, or scented erasers that they can unobtrusively carry around. 

Olfactory flashbacks are an inconvenient, frustrating, often confusing symptom of post traumatic stress— but they are, like every symptom, understandable and manageable with patience and self-compassion. 

I know. Those are tall orders, some days. 

Breathe. Blink. Focus. 

One day at a time.