flashback

Flashback is a narrative device that interrupts the present action to recount a past event. It is used in literature, film, and other media to provide backstory, context, or insight that would be difficult to convey in a linear sequence.

In literature, flashbacks may arise as a character recalls a memory, as a dream, or as a told anecdote. They vary in immediacy and reliability and can illuminate motivation, reveal secrets, or foreshadow later developments.

In film and television, flashbacks are conveyed through editing, visual cues, sound design, or voiceover. They can be internal, triggered by a character’s memory, or external, presented as a separate scene. When used strategically, they support non-linear storytelling and dramatic suspense.

In psychology, a flashback refers to a sudden, involuntary re-experiencing of a past event, typically traumatic. It often features vivid sensory details and a sense of immediacy and is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and some dissociative disorders. Treatment focuses on grounding, stabilization, and trauma-focused therapies.

The term is shared across disciplines but its meaning depends on context; it is distinct from flashforward (a move to the future) and from the literary term analepsis, which denotes retrospective narration.