Brad SchipkeFounder of Broken To Unbreakable

What to do after a PTSD flashback?

4 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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This content was created by Brad Schipke. This content was uploaded by Brad Schipke. This is a YouTube video titled "What to do after a PTSD flashback?" (uploaded 2026-02-04) featuring Brad Schipke speaking in English. He gives practical advice on calming the body during and after PTSD flashbacks—advocating acceptance rather than resistance, grounding with the five senses, and using the "butterfly hug" (crossing the arms and tapping under the collarbones) to simulate REM sleep and aid processing. He also notes that processing the root trauma is required to eliminate flashbacks long-term and invites viewers to subscribe for more in-depth techniques. Metadata includes a thumbnail URL and the content type YOUTUBE.

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How do you calm your body after a PTSD flashback? Well, the first thing to do is to not fight it because a PTSD flashback or any trigger for that matter acts like quicksand. The more that you resist it, the stronger it gets. So you want to accept that you are currently in a flashback and then you want to do your best to ground yourself in the present moment. You want to look around, you want to name what you see, what you hear, what you feel, and do anything you can with any of your 5 senses to really just shock yourself back into the present moment. And that's because your brain needs proof that the danger isn't here anymore. And you want to gain that separation from the present moment and the past. A great tool to help you through the flashbacks is something called the butterfly hug, where you cross your arms across your chest like this, tap left and right underneath your collarbones. And what that does is it simulates the REM sleep cycle and helps you process the flashbacks as you're going through it. So that's how to calm your body during or after a flashback. But the thing that will get rid of your flashbacks for good is by processing the trauma at the root. And if you want to learn how to do that, make sure to subscribe because I go into much more advanced processing tools in my longer videos.