A colleague who specializes in PTSD once told me that it
was no use trying to learn what all ones triggers were because
there are so many that we couldn't possibly learn them all.
His advice was to focus on other ways of dealing with PTSD.
I think there is a lot of truth to what he says except for
his conclusion that we shouldn't try to learn our triggers.
There are a lot of triggers and we couldn't possibly ever
learn them all. On the other hand I think that the more we
understand about our triggers, the better chance we have of
heading them off. This same therapist on another occasion,
told me that "all roads lead to Rome" meaning that
we should be open to using any and all avenues available to
us to gain our objective of overcoming the effects of our
PTSD. Well one of those roads to Rome is learning our triggers.
Okay! It's not the "Royal road to recovery", but
it is a help and as such should not be discarded.
So what is a trigger? A trigger is anything that reminds
us, consciously or unconsciously, of some aspect of our trauma.
Honestly, it could probably be almost anything. I tried to
think of something that would never be a trigger for anyone.
But everything I thought of, I immediately discarded because
I could think of a way that it might be triggering for someone.
I tried to think of something placid, tranquil and unchanging,
and I thought of the moon. Well! Forget that! The moon is
obviously a major trigger.
Luna means moon. Lunatic means… well you get the point.
The connection between a trigger and a trauma can be very
direct and obvious or very indirect and obscure. It could
be as direct and obvious as a person looking exactly like
our perpetrator. It could be as indirect and obscure as a
fear of bridges because I crossed a bridge on my way to the
hospital. Never mind that I crossed bridges a thousand other
times on my way to a thousand other places.
Another way of thinking about triggers is that they are clues.
By way of example there was the client who was triggered by
her husband running the clothes washer at night. She told
him and herself that the noise bothered her. He couldn't understand
this, as it wasn't noisy. And she herself didn't quite believe
her own explanation. It wasn't until she did some trauma journaling
as part of her therapy that she realized that this trigger
had to do with her stepfather running the washer to cover
the possible sounds of his molesting her. In this case, understanding
the history helped to identify that the washer was a trigger.
It can also go the other way, where recognizing that something
is a trigger can help piece together a part of the history.
Either way, the challenge is to make these connections between
past traumas and current triggers. Often times, when we make
these connections, the triggers involved lose their power
over us. That is exactly what happened in the case of this
client. Her husband running the washer at night no longer
bothered her.
I think it is helpful to think in terms of triggers. It is
helpful to recognize that there is always a possibility that
we may be triggered whenever we find ourselves being reactive.
We should ask, "I wonder if something has triggered me?"
It is good to think about what was going on just before we
started getting reactive. It is a good chance that the first
thing that comes to mind when we ask this question is the
right answer. Sometimes our reactivity is very subtle and
unless we are paying attention to triggers, we are very apt
to rationalize away our reactivity. For example, sometime
when we meet someone new we have an immediate dislike for
him or her without giving ourselves a chance to get to know
them. Chances are this dislike is because we have been triggered.
Something about them consciously or unconsciously reminds
us of our trauma.
The faster we get at recognizing triggers when they occur
the better off we are. If we recognize a trigger before it
starts, we don't go into a reactive state. If we recognize
that we have been triggered when we get reactive, we can back
out of our reactive state.
Desired Outcome:
To become more conscious of our triggers and better able to
identify them and use them to help us understand the connection
between our trauma and our current behavior.
Discussion Starters:
Are there times when I feel that I have over-reacted,
become very emotional, tranced out, or become extremely angry
that may be related to my childhood trauma? Where do I feel
it when I get into a "bad space" or a triggered
place? That is, do I feel it in my stomach, do I get light-headed,
does my heart race, fists clench, teeth grind, or do I feel
numb? When do I surprise myself and not get upset about things
that normally would trigger me? What do I understand about
my triggers and how has this knowledge helped me? How can
I determine when I've been triggered vs. when I am having
a normal response? As I think about the concept of triggers,
what new insights do I have about my triggers? What new connections
can I make between my triggers and my trauma history?
John C Flanagan, LCSW
818 NW 17th Avenue, Suite 7
Portland, OR 97209-2327
503-228-7574
www.johncflanaganlcsw.com
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