Trauma triggers: what to do if you get triggered easily.
Image of a traffic sign on a city street. Photo by Andersen Jensen on Unsplash
In the past few years the concept of triggers has been showing up a lot in popular culture and social media. By now you’ve probably watched a video or social media post that started out with a trigger warning. You might notice yourself being easily triggered by specific experiences or trying to support loved ones who are easily triggered.
What are triggers?
A trigger is one part of a larger chain of events that make up a trauma response. First, there is an event or stimulus that occurs in the world around you. This can include anything your senses can detect: images, sounds, smells, movements, etc.
Second, when our senses register these external stimuli specific neural networks in our brains are activated. These neural networks store memories of difficult and challenging events in our past. The feelings, thoughts and body sensations associated with the event are also stored in these networks.
When these neural networks are activated you might experience the challenging thoughts, feelings, images, and body sensations that are associated with the memory. It is like you are back in the time when the memory actually took place. In fact, one of the diagnostic criteria for trauma is how intrusive these internal experiences feel. Even though the world around you is OK, you could feel like something bad is actually happening. The memory is intruding into your current life.
Finally, while many triggers aren’t problematic, sometimes the intrusive experiences are overwhelming and influence behavior. You might move into fight, flight, or freeze mode. You might become argumentative or irritated, try to avoid or get away from what’s happening, or you could shut down or become numb.
Why triggers are so challenging
In addition to the painful experiences, the challenge of being triggered and having intrusive memories is that it impacts the quality of your life. Being triggered can put a strain on relationships, make daily life a struggle and move you away from experiencing what’s happening around you.
Even more challenging is that being triggered often leads to avoidance. When you know you are easily triggered you may begin avoiding the situations where the triggers occur. This can have a big impact as you move away from meaningful parts of your life. Life can feel smaller and less vital as you avoid important stuff to not experience the pain associated with the trigger.
It’s OK to accept yourself where you are. Start with some compassion.
It can be easy to move into feelings of shame or self-critical thoughts if you’re easily triggered and experience intrusive memories. Perhaps you feel defective, not to mention you might feel like you’re missing out on life. I think it can be helpful to start with a little compassion for yourself. Consider that in these moments that you get triggered, you are suffering. And if you’re suffering, what might you need to do to take care of yourself?
Focus on grounding yourself when you are triggered
Grounding is all about bringing yourself back into the present moment. You can ground yourself using your senses and your body.
This is important because when you are triggered you are experiencing a memory as if you are there, when actually you’re aren’t there. You are here in the present moment. What happened in the memory isn’t actually happening now.
Here are some ways to ground yourself:
Use your breath
Your breath is a great way to start grounding yourself. Begin to lengthen and deepen your breath, allow yourself to notice how you breathe. Where do you sense your breath? It could be that you notice it moving in and out of your nostrils or you might notice your abdomen expanding and contracting. There are a variety of relaxation breathing techniques available that can help you get back into your body and the present moment.
Engage your senses
Your senses are a powerful way to shift focus away from the triggered memory and back into the present moment. Here’s an easy exercise that can help:
Stop what you are doing and look around in your environment for:
5 things you can see
4 things you can touch
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste
You can also try a mindfulness exercise that engages your senses. Any action that shifts focus to what you can actually sense in the world can be helpful.
Ground yourself in your body
It can be helpful to actually remind yourself that you are in your body and not living in the past memory. Here are some ways you can do this:
Press your feet into the floor. Notice what it feels like to do this.
Squeeze a ball.
Smell something intense (and pleasurable). Aromatherapy oils, spices, and candles all work - whatever scent is strong enough to refocus your attention.
Try some self-talk
Sometimes, a little self-talk can be helpful. Try reminding yourself of some facts:
you are here and not where the memory happened
you have tools and resources right now that weren’t available to you before
you have control over the situation you are in
things are actually OK right now
you made it OK, you survived, you’re here
How therapy can help.
Sometimes just doing these things can help to build new neural connections - a trigger happens - you learn to remind yourself that you are OK.
If you find yourself avoiding experiences to prevent triggering intrusive symptoms, therapy can also be an effective intervention. Trauma therapy can treat the intrusive thoughts, feelings, and body sensations, as well as the underlying traumatic memories.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a great therapy tool for processing the traumatic memories and creating new, more adaptive memories. EMDR uses rapid eye movements (similar to what occurs when you are sleeping) to shift the brain into processing mode. Memories that were intrusive before become less so, external stimuli stop being triggers and just become things happening around you.
While being triggered is a common experience for many people, it can become challenging when it leads to avoiding meaningful experiences in life. Grounding is a great tool that you can utilize at any moment you feel triggered. And, the good news is that trauma therapy such as EMDR are effective ways to treat the underlying trauma and move your life in a positive direction.