What is an Emotional Trigger?
In the last blog post, we discussed Glimmers. Now, let’s take a look at its opposite: Triggers.
We use this term somewhat freely when talking to others, as something that sets us off, emotionally and even physically, usually in a negative way.
Wouldn’t it be so nice to be able to put our feelings in a special box and deal with them when we’re ready or it’s convenient? Unfortunately, neither we or our feelings work this way. Too bad, I know….
The way it really works is that we can experience any feeling at any given time, whether we like it or not or are ready to deal with it or not. The challenging part is that we humans are not meant to squash or to suppress our emotional reactions. These emotions are like our personal ‘alarm system,’ letting us know what’s happening, internally and externally.
Often our emotions come from somewhere; they seem to make sense to us. They have a clear root and we feel more justified and okay with having them. But sometimes (and more often than we’d like), we have emotional reactions that don’t feel connected or aligned to what’s actually happening (in the present moment). These are called ‘triggers’ and they can be surprising, uncomfortable, even scary at times.
Let’s delve into the subject of Triggers; how they form, strategies for coping with them, some of the more common triggers and other questions and facts about emotional triggers.
What is a Trigger?
A trigger is a person, place, thing, or situation that elicits an intense or unexpected emotional response or causes an individual to relive a past trauma. Any sensory stimulus can be a potential trigger. Triggers are unique from threats.
Essentially, a non-threatening stimulus is triggering an autonomic (fight or flight) response. (BetterUp Blog: Allaya Cooks-Campbell)
In psychology, a ‘trigger’ is a stimulus that causes a painful memory to resurface. It can be any sensory reminder that causes painful memories or certain symptoms to resurface (PsychCentral: Traci Pedersen).
If you have experienced a traumatic event, there are certain sights, smells or sounds that you remember related to that experience. When you experience or run into these sensory reminders in the present day, and are ‘triggered’----you may get the feelings of anxiety, panic, unease……
Within mental health contexts, a ‘trigger’ can be anything that activates or worsens the symptoms of a mental health condition, such as OCD: obsessive compulsive disorder or substance abuse disorder.
Some Common Emotional Triggers:
-Past trauma. A situation or event may remind someone of a traumatic experience from their past and this can be a strong emotional trigger, ie: abuse, loss, accidents.
-Rejection.
-Betrayal.
-Feeling excluded or being ignored.
-Fear: Fears and phobias can often be emotional triggers (ie: fear of heights, flying, dogs).
-Stressful situations: ie: public speaking, deadlines and other demanding situations.
-Being treated unfairly.
-Loss: Anniversaries of loss or grief, such as the death of a close person, can trigger sadness and sorrow.
-Negative memories: those associated with embarrassment, failure, disappointment, can act as triggers, and can cause intense negative emotions when similar events or situations come up now.
-Relationships: reminders of past relationship issues may trigger sadness or anger.
-Change: Big life changes, whether positive or negative, can trigger different kinds of emotions; ie: a new job or moving to a new place can evoke excitement, stress or anxiety.
How Do Triggers Form?
As mentioned previously, it seems that our senses (eg: sight, smell, sound) play a big role in forming memories. It could be that triggers that are trauma-related may feel very intense because they involve our senses.
When experiencing trauma, our brains usually store the surrounding sensory stimuli to our memory. Then later, when we meet up with these sensory triggers, the brain can reactivate those feelings associated with the trauma. Often, we’re not even aware of why we’re so afraid or upset or anxious.
Trauma does affect different people differently. One person might develop PTSD from, ie: a car accident, being in war combat, and another person might not. The difference in response and the way a traumatic event impacts an individual may be a result of many and varied factors:
-the specific characteristics of the event.
-the individual’s personality traits and their sociocultural history.
-the stage of the individual’s emotional development. Often, trauma experience very early in life can have more impact and be much harder to access.
-what the trauma means to the individual.
Examples of Triggers: (in addition to those listed above)
There are all different kinds of triggers and they’re unique to each person.
Here are some common triggers: (this is not an exhaustive list).
-specific sights, sounds, smells or tastes related to the trauma.
-loud voices, yelling, screaming.
-loud noises; sudden noises; arguments.
-being made fun of or judged.
-rejection.
-holiday or anniversary of the trauma or loss.
-being alone.
-being ignored or passed over.
-relationship breakup.
-sexual harassment.
-physical injury or illness.
-violence in the news: social media and other sources. At the present moment, with so much conflict in the world, it’s helpful to be conscious of these……..
What to Do if you’re Triggered:
-The first thing is to remind yourself that you are safe! Be aware of your body’s sensations. Then, ground yourself. You can start by taking slow, deep breaths and vocalizing on the exhale (ie: voo sound). This stimulates the vagus nerve, part of your PNS: parasympathetic nervous or ‘rest & digest’ system. So, your body calms down and your mind follows suit.
If you want to learn other grounding techniques, please contact me @www.gigiarnaud.com or at the social media sites below.
You can remind yourself that you’re now safe, by repeating this mantra, “I’m safe now. This is not then.”
-Be Accepting & Self-Compassionate: try not to judge yourself for having these feelings or sensations. Be kind and gentle to yourself. You deserve it!
-Perspective: when you’re feeling triggered and you become aware of it, try to take a ‘birds-eye view’ of what’s going on, as if you’re looking from outside of yourself and/or from above. Ground yourself and try to recognize where these intense feelings come from. Usually, they’re not from the trigger itself, but from a past traumatic experience.
-Learn Tools & Exercises & Get Help: You may want to work with a professional: ie: life coach, therapist, somatic practitioner, to learn how to become aware of, accept and work through triggers and past traumatic events. You can also practice: mindfulness, meditation, qi gong and more, to help you to calm and ground yourself, to be able to look inside and become aware of the unique, beautiful and fabulous YOU that’s underneath it all!!!
With smiles & love,
Dr Gigi
PS: It’s time to BOOK your free Clarity Call and get to your goals, desires and dreams sooner, rather than later! I look forward to meeting you and getting to know you!
Change your Thoughts, Change your Mind, Change your World