Reactivating parts of brain
The experience of a traffic accident where someone is trapped in a car, with petrol leaking and the danger of it igniting, could be revived as a flashback by the smell of petrol for example. Dr Naish explains that it is believed the amygdala may be reactivating the same parts of the brain that were active at the time, and this seems to happen with PTSD. Dr Naish’s research was partly prompted by seeing some studies suggesting that people with PTSD are more than averagely hypnotisable.