r/ptsd•
Matchaparrot

Can you still have PTSD even if you can't remember what happened?

Advice

I'm diagnosed with PTSD but thought I'd made a full recovery. But lately I've been getting some experiences that I don't know what they mean but trouble me. Can you still have PTSD if you can't remember what happened?

I sat down at my computer to do a very important assignment for work, then when I got to a part I've been finding frustratingly difficult, I suddenly felt my heart race and got these flashes of memories of being in an office and being very scared. But it's not my current work's office, and my supervisor hasn't been any trouble at all. And this situation isn't scary, it's literally just an assignment. I don't even remember these memories, it's so brief I get the experience of them but not long enough for me to know where it's come from or see it properly.

Recently when I interviewed for a new workplace, I was doing really well talking to the manager. Then my manager unexpectedly said ok here's my five postdocs. When the postdocs all came into the room, all was fine specifically until they sat down in a circle around me and gave me eye contact.

I suddenly and completely out of character for myself froze and felt overwhelming panic, sweating. My brain malfunctioned. I couldn't talk to them.

I love meeting people, I'm always socialising throughout the week - it's really unlike me to freeze like that. They were really nice people and I only just got through the meeting and hope I made a good impression.

There's other examples, but they all happen when I'm trying to work. It's like I've had a traumatic memory somewhere but I have no idea when it happened and can't recall it when I try to. It just happens.

I consider myself very mentally healthy, I talk kindly to myself, I no longer experience the previous traumatic memories that I processed with my previous bout of PTSD.

It's not anxiety, Im serious when I say I never experience panic outside of these isolated incidents I don't fully understand.

Why now would these memories, if that's even what they are, just pop up to ruin my day?

might delete this later, I realise I might just be strange and have to find a way to get rid of this from happening again. I can't write assignments like this

sorry

Posted Feb 22, 2026, 5:06 PM UTC

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