Dallas Bragg distinguishes between using dreams and PTSD flashbacks in recovery from IV drug use. Dreams reflect current life and warrant immediate journaling upon waking. PTSD flashbacks are vivid full-body re-experiences triggered by everyday cues like seeing veins, and neither indicates failed recovery.
All right, let's talk about the difference between using dreams and PTSD flashbacks. This is especially common for those of us who have used intravenously with our drug use. Using dreams are going to happen at night, and they're from the subconscious, and typically they coincide with something that's happening in your life. So it's a very good time when you wake up from a using dream or wake up the next morning— journal, journal, journal. Be journaling about what's been going on in your life, your thoughts, behaviors, and your actions, because you're going to somewhere in there have a clue of something that needs to be fleshed out to keep you from relapsing again. A PTSD flashback is when you actually feel the whole feeling of using. So for me, when I'm at the gym, I see my veins, sometimes I get a PTSD flashback of the needle going in the arm, and then my whole body reacts as if I've used. Both of these are part of the process. They're from the subconscious, and it's not a gauge of how well you're doing. It is the time to learn new tools and tricks for processing.
