A year after her kidnapping and torture, she starts experiencing PTSD, something that Reid notices. When she is confronted by him, she asks him to provide a term to describe her situation, saying that it's more than PTSD. She breaks down and reveals the source of her PTSD to be Tivon Askari and reveals her miscarriage to Reid. She later takes an extremely large risk against an UnSub in a room with a gas leak, which could have resulted in the deaths of herself, the UnSub, and a hostage. Reid approaches her in the BAU to tell her that while he couldn't find a term to describe JJ's condition, he called Emily and managed to obtain Askari's file, revealing his background of his life on the streets of Tikrit, Iraq, and his criminal background. JJ unknowingly hallucinates Askari in the room with her. He taunts her and tells her that he wants to watch her kill herself. He also tells her that he will take her sleep, her smile, and her safety away, as well as change her so that her husband and son won't even recognise her. He explains that the memories will eventually take away everything she holds dear, but JJ snarls a harsh "No" to Askari before realizing it was all a hallucination.