How to Deal with Triggers from Trauma
Understanding the triggers of our traumas is vital when it comes to healing. Triggers, or unexpected reminders of trauma, can be overpowering, bringing up painful memories, emotions, and physical reactions. Whether from past experiences, specific places, or certain sensory cues, these responses impact individuals deeply and require thoughtful management to foster healing. Reclaiming a sense of safety and control can be done through learning to recognize and respond to triggers in ways that encourage resilience and healing.
What is a Trauma Trigger?
Triggers are prickly reminders of past trauma and traumatic experiences. A trigger can spark intense emotional and physical responses that can take someone back to the moment of their trauma. A smell, a sound, place, or even a feeling, can all be a form of triggers. When someone experiences a stressor such as this, vivid memories are brought to the surface, sending the mind into a state of panic that tends to be all-consuming.
Trigger Responses
It is often hard to feel grounded or safe when the mind has been overwhelmed by triggers. Triggers can activate the body's stress response, initiating our fight, flight, or freeze response. Cognitive distortions can also be a response, and individuals may experience negative thoughts or ruminations related to the triggering event. Sometimes, the mind’s response is so overwhelming it results in dissociation, a mental escape from the present moment. Here are some typical reactions individuals can have when being triggered:
Emotional response: sudden fear, sadness, anger, numbness, guilt, shame
Physical response: rapid heartbeat, trouble breathing, sweating, muscle tension, nausea
Behavioral responses: isolation, compulsive habits, aggression, rumination, flashbacks, hypervigilance
What Causes Trauma Triggers?
Trauma can happen to us in numerous ways, meaning that triggers also don't just come from one source. Triggers develop from various kinds of past distress, such as accidents, physical distress, and/or emotional abuse. Trauma is incredibly unique to the individual who experiences it and can have distinct effects on the mind and body. These effects can be lasting, shaping our worldviews and interactions. When someone experiences a physical injury or accident, triggers can be visual (seeing similar spaces and environments), physical (having pain in an area associated with the injury), or sensory (hearing certain sounds).
Experiencing trauma can reshape how our brain functions in areas responsible for emotional regulation, such as the amygdala and hippocampus. Trauma can alter our response patterns as well, sometimes "wiring" individuals for hyper-alertness to specific cues, making even minor stressors or reminders feel encapsulating.
Impact of Trauma Triggers on Mental Health
Being triggered is not a matter of inconvenience. Triggers are there to remind individuals how intensely trauma can impact our minds and bodies in daily life. Trauma triggers can be significantly pronounced for individuals with PTSD or complex PTSD and exacerbate symptoms. PTSD involves experiencing lingering symptoms following a traumatic event, while complex PTSD is related to prolonged exposure to trauma, often during early developmental stages. Both conditions lead to pronounced emotional and behavioral reactions, making daily interactions and activities challenging when faced with triggering situations.
Triggers can lead to emotional fallout – flashbacks, panic attacks, fear, dissociation. Due to anxiety about being triggered, they can also have an impact on our relationships, potentially causing withdrawal or avoidance, especially in social situations. Working toward understanding and managing triggers is critical to regaining a sense of control and helping trauma survivors decrease the impact.
Types of Trauma Triggers
Individuals can experience triggers in various ways, and understanding the different trigger formations can help to understand the root of your responses.
Internal Triggers
Internal triggers are responses that originate from within our mind and body.
Memories or thoughts that remind you of the trauma.
Emotions such as anger, guilt, or sadness.
Physical sensations like experiencing tightness or pain.
External Triggers
External triggers are stimuli or stressors that happen outside oneself.
People can be associated with past events and trigger us. People who exhibit certain behaviors or resemble past abusers can be also stressors.
Places that hold particular memories.
Events that remind you of your trauma.
Objects that were a part of a traumatic experience or remind us of one.
Environmental Triggers
Environmental factors can also serve as powerful reminders of past experiences.
Sounds like loud noises, music, or yelling.
Smells that resemble something or someone and take you back to that person or place.
Specific locations that may carry intense associations or memories.
How to Identify Trauma Triggers
Discovering ways to identify your triggers can be uniquely empowering and allows individuals to be more in control of their circumstances. An accessible way to begin learning is to journal. Tracking and writing down thoughts, feelings, emotions, physical sensations, and the circumstances around them helps to build a foundation of self-awareness. What you may notice is a pattern in your responses as well as a form of triggers. Be consistent. You can ask yourself questions such as:
What was I doing when I felt triggered?
What thoughts or memories came up
Were there any specific sights, sounds, or smells that stood out?
What did I feel in my body, and where?
Consistently logging experiences will make spotting recurring triggers easier, as well as preparing for them and identifying connections between particular stressors and emotional responses.
Coping Strategies for Dealing with Triggers
Managing triggers can be a process that involves self and community, in addition to practical tools and having access to self-compassion. It may be helpful to engage in mindful breathing and grounding exercises that offer immediate relief when feeling overwhelmed.
Breathing exercises such as taking slow, deep breaths can help to regulate an individual’s heart rate and calm the mind.
The 5-4-3-2-1 technique is a grounding method where individuals can name five things they see, four they can touch, three they hear, two they smell, and one they can taste. This technique can bring your focus back to the present.
The wonderful idea behind mindfulness practices is that they emphasize staying present, which helps to create a distinction between past experiences and present ones. Dual awareness – holding space for the reality of a trauma memory within any given present moment – could be a safe mindfulness exercise to practice when learning to remind yourself of the present moment and the reality that you're safe.
Engaging in comforting activities when triggers feel intense can help to shift your focus and provide much needed mental breaks. Physical exercises such as walking, stretching, or progressive muscle relaxation techniques can help release built-up tensions. Engaging in other expressive or creative outlets like art journaling, painting, or listening to music can also be good self-care practices that encourage management and help to cope.
Creating a Support System
Access to a strong support network can make a difference in the trauma-healing journey. Building a support network—whether friends, family, or mental health professionals—ensures that individuals have people they can rely on during triggering moments. Our supports help to create a sense of safety and stability, which can be essential for recovery.
Connecting with others or finding safe spaces can look different for everyone. Consider joining a trauma support group or finding online communities or forums to communicate with others who relate. Both in-person and online support groups provide a space for shared understanding, reducing feelings of isolation and offering practical tips for coping. When individuals have a safe space to express themselves and talk about and share experiences, they have an invaluable, secure space to turn to, especially when triggers hit hard.
Treatment Options for Trauma and PTSD
If managing triggers starts to feel overwhelming alone, seeking some professional help can also be a great coping mechanism and transformative. Therapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and trauma release exercises (TRE) specifically target trauma-related symptoms. Trauma-focused art therapy can also serve as a powerful therapeutic experience for individuals looking to understand and process their trauma. These modalities are all aimed at addressing and reprogramming trauma-related thoughts, releasing stored stress in the body, and processing. Additionally, they aim to provide tools that reduce triggers emotional charge.
Some other therapies to consider that can complement trauma therapy are yoga and meditation therapies. Yoga is particularly beneficial for relaxation and grounding, while meditation helps build resilience and encourages individuals to increase bodily self-awareness, all while enhancing someone's ability to stay present.
Medication
There are medication options available for treating trauma as well. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are often prescribed for individuals with trauma-related disorders to stabilize mood and reduce anxiety, especially when coupled with therapy.
Conclusion
Healing from trauma is a process. It is a gradual journey that can take patience and understanding from others and yourself. With each step taken to identify, understand, and manage triggers, one can strengthen their resilience. While we may not be able to fully dissipate triggers from our individual experiences, gaining control over how we respond to them is possible. Offer yourself a path to safety and presentness. Please don't hesitate to seek professional support when needed, connect with those who genuinely care, and remember that your healing path is unique. Every small step forward will result in a victory in your journey to healing.