Feasibility of an Intervention for Somatic Flashbacks in PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a reaction to a traumatic event where a person perceived a high risk of danger to themselves or others (e.g. sexual assault, car crash). Re-experiencing symptoms are a core component to diagnosis and can be understood as intrusive memories of a past traumatic event which are re-experienced involuntarily, as if they are happening in the present and contain more sensory details than nontraumatic memories. These 'intrusive memories' can be experienced as visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile. Other symptoms of PTSD include hyperarousal, emotional numbing and avoidance of stimuli which remind a person of the trauma. Trauma-focussed therapies have an established evidence-base and are widely used to treat PTSD. Their broad aim is to process the memories of a trauma and the meanings attached to it.

The current project seeks to explore the phenomenon of somatic re-experiencing, which we will refer to as somatic flashbacks. Within the field of trauma-focused therapy and research, the experience of somatic flashbacks is acknowledged anecdotally but lacks specific research. The limited research that does exist in this area is descriptive and focuses on somatic flashbacks of pain (see below). There is no existing empirical research exploring the management of somatic flashbacks more generally (e.g. re-experiencing of specific, bodily sensations that were present at the time of the trauma, including internal or external sensations, experience of warmth or coldness, and other physical sensations).

Four existing case reports describe participants who report experiencing somatic flashbacks (of pain) that resemble, in quality and location, the sensations experienced during the traumatic event. This includes: two participants who report waking during surgery; a veteran who re-experienced "pain like a shrapnel wound"; a veteran who re-experienced headaches after losing an eye; and a survivor of the 2005 London bombings who re-experienced pain flashbacks "similar in quality to the original electrocution pain" experienced during the explosion.

An additional study completed over a two-year period to assess the prevalence of pain flashbacks in a sample of participants with PTSD accessing an NHS trauma service reported that 49% of the sample reported experiencing somatic flashbacks of pain.

The current project aims to explore the feasibility of intervention featuring imagery rescripting (ImRs) and grounding in the management of somatic flashbacks amongst this population. ImRs was developed as a method to help activate a traumatic memory, bring corrective information into the memory, create a more favourable outcome to the memory and to support the participant to discover and express inhibited trauma-related emotional responses.

In early studies, various versions of ImRs were used to target symptoms of PTSD. Over the last 30 years, subsequent studies have demonstrated the efficacy of ImRs amongst participants with PTSD who have been injured at work; refugee populations; participants who feel contaminated following childhood sexual abuse; veterans; participants who have experienced childhood trauma; and participants who feel guilt after surviving a traumatic event.

The current project aims to contribute to the existing evidence-base for ImRs in PTSD. It will address the gap in knowledge around the feasibility of ImRs in the treatment and management of somatic flashbacks in PTSD. It will employ a similar intervention used in a pilot study for feelings of shame. The intervention will be developed with the support of experts in the field. They will provide input on the treatment protocol and review intervention recordings to ensure fidelity to the approach.

At the time of writing, no existing studies have explored the use of an intervention featuring ImRs to manage somatic flashbacks in PTSD. Given the lack of existing research, an acceptability and feasibility research design will be employed.