Smell flashback???

[Wattlebird]

I have been thinking thru a traumatic time in my childhood this last week, actually I have never really allowed myself to think about it in any significant way, so during the week I have been smelling cigerette smoke in places there are no smokers ever, this has been confusing me all week but I think they could be flashbacks is this possible? I only just realised what it could be when I was just journaling about an incident and had a seen in my head and smelled the smoke again it reflected the image so well I was a bit shocked. Is that right or am i just getting carried away ?

[Blueberry]

I have had smell flashbacks twice in my life, I was nearly sick both times. The second time I was visiting friends and particularly my small godson. To me, he smelt, tho he didn't. His parents look after him fine. I felt so awful I had to go home, where I then slept and slept. The first time was a bit different, not relevant here.

Occasionally I have a memory of a smell I liked when I was 3-4. Smell memory can go way, way back. This smell has no traumatic memories attached and in your case it does. cptsd is, for lack of a better word, complex and our reactions manifold so I doubt you're getting carried away. The brain is complex and cptsd affects it.

[I like vanilla]

I have had smell flashbacks. I do not always know what they are attached to; I have more 'body memories' than 'cognitive memories' of past events, but I do have smell flashbacks.

It's funny, I do not think I have ever seen smell flashbacks in the literature, and I do periodically browse the CPTSD literature (such as it is). I think that lack is troubling because a) there really is not enough research on CPTSD overall, b) those doing the research are not getting the full story, and c) it makes those of us experiencing phenomenon such as smell flashbacks question our own reality and experiences. Maybe now that CPSTD is in the DSM it will be studied more?

But, anecdotally, yes, smell flashbacks does seem to be a thing for at least some of us with CPTSD.

[Luke57]

Just wanted to add my voice and agreement to this topic.

I have had numerous emotional and vivid visual flashbacks as well as a few body memories. And, yes, I've definitely had smell flashbacks. They are the most nauseating of all.

[Rainagain]

I believe in the brain the smell centre (olfactory bulb?) is right next to the amygdala.

[dutchierich]

I've recently started having smell flashbacks as well. It's really awful, like a whole new level of flashback. As if the mental and emotional flashbacks weren't enough, now we get to deal with the other senses. For me though, I think it's a sign that I've actually progressed very far in my recovery. The smell flashbacks are so overwhelmingly awful that I think that the smells associated with the trauma were some of the first things to be repressed, and now some of the last to be experienced as flashbacks. I've only got five senses after all, and all five of them were experiencing the traumas, whether I remember it or not.

[Kizzie]

Me too - when I smell whiskey in particular because my F was an alcoholic (something I never drank when I got into drinking). And Old Spice aftershave. Still to this day - it's amazing how powerful sense memories are.

[Deep Blue]

The olfactory bulb is very close to the amygdala.  That's why memories and smells are so closely linked