Recognizing Triggers, from Coping With Trauma Related Dissociation
[image ID: Recognizing Triggers
It may be hard to recognize when you are triggered unless you have an extreme reaction. But it does help to recognize some possibilities that you might be triggered:
Your reaction to a situation seems more intense than is warranted, or it is significantly different than your usual reactions.
You are not able to step back and reflect in the situation, but feel stuck in your reaction.
Inner parts of you become activated to the degree that you are aware of them.
You have a defense reaction, that is, flight, fight, freeze, or collapse.
You seem to watch your reaction unfold, not feeling in control of it, as though another part of you is having the reaction.
You switch to another part of yourself and lose time.
You have a sudden flashback; these are almost always triggered by something in the present
Sometimes you may be able to recognize the link between a trigger and the original traumatizing event. For example, a person might be aware that the smell of gasoline evokes fear and panic because of a traumatic past experience involving gasoline. However, at other times, you may not be aware of what has triggered you. Perhaps you have no memory of the event and thus cannot make a connection with a trigger. Or even if you know about it, you may not be (very) aware of the part of yourself that has become triggered, or you may simply not understand the link between them. As we have noted, the parts of you that function in daily life are adept at avoiding parts stuck in trauma-time, as well as the traumatic memories that they hold, so you may find yourself not wanting to know why you are triggered. Unfortunately, this avoidance has serious disadvantages. When you cannot understand and accept your inner experiences, they become confusing and frightening, seemingly arbitrary and out of control. This only increases your fear of inner experiences and you then make your life ever smaller to avoid dealing with yourself (see chapter 5 on the phobia of inner experience). Therefore, you need to learn to reflect on triggers and the reactions they evoke in you and other parts of yourself.
Although it may sometimes seem as though "all of life" is a trigger, it can be of great help to distinguish specific triggers. Then you can notice that not all situations are equally disturbing to you and that you have already learned to cope successfully with certain triggers. /end ID]
