The PTSD Film Projection Metaphor is a visual tool that helps explain the experience of intrusive trauma memories and provides a rationale for memory processing in therapy.
Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
Includes client-friendly guidance. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
An editable Microsoft PowerPoint version of the resource.
This resource utilizes the metaphor of a rogue film projectionist to explain the nature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) flashbacks. It illustrates how trauma affects autonomy over memories, leading to distressing involuntary recollections. The narrative guides clients towards understanding therapeutic interventions aimed at reclaiming control over their intrusive memories.
This metaphor breaks down complex emotional experiences related to PTSD into relatable narratives.
Particularly distressing flashbacks and intrusive memories.
Share the metaphor early in treatment to support psychoeducation.
Reflect with clients on how the metaphor fits their experience.
Use the image to discuss memory triggers, control, and avoidance.
Return to the metaphor as therapy progresses to review change.
The PTSD Film Projection Metaphor draws on leading cognitive models of PTSD, particularly those developed by Ehlers and Clark (2000) and Brewin and colleagues (1996, 2010). These models emphasise that post-traumatic stress is maintained by the way traumatic memories are encoded and retrieved, often in a fragmented, sensory-based form that lacks context. This can leave individuals feeling as though the trauma is happening again, rather than being recalled as something from the past.
Brewin’s Dual Representation Theory (1996) is especially relevant to this metaphor. The theory proposes that trauma memories are stored in two distinct systems: verbally accessible memories (VAMs), which are contextualised and consciously retrievable, and; situationally accessible memories (SAMs), which are sensory-based and more likely to intrude involuntarily when triggered.
In this metaphor, the rogue film projectionist represents the brain’s disrupted ability to control the retrieval of SAMs. Instead of voluntarily recalling a memory, the person is bombarded by sensory and emotional fragments that “project” vividly and unexpectedly — flashbacks that feel like the trauma is happening now. The individual is no longer in control of what plays, when it plays, or how long it lasts.
Therapy — whether using EMDR, trauma-focused CBT, or other integrative methods — aims to help the client “reclaim the projection room” by processing and integrating these intrusive memories. As traumatic material becomes more contextualised and woven into the person’s narrative memory (VAM), the intrusiveness and emotional intensity typically reduce.
By using metaphors like this one, therapists can demystify memory symptoms, reduce shame, and provide a collaborative framework for understanding how therapy supports healing through memory integration and emotional regulation.
