We often hear of visual flashbacks in PTSD and trauma. However, visual images or pictures are just one way we can re-experience trauma. Somatic flashbacks are when our body re-experiences pain or the somatic (body based) sensations that we did during the traumatic experience. This information gets encoded alongside the other aspects of the traumatic memory, and we may have physical relations or sensations in this type of flashback. The urge to shut the eyes closed, run, hide, warm/heat sensation

Key three symptoms of PTSD; flashbacks that come to you at odd moments, nightmares and hypervigilance: Dr. Linda