10 Common Trauma Triggers
Trauma can have lasting effects on someone's mental health and emotional state. Additionally, when in relationships, trauma can come up in obvious and not-so-obvious ways. Trauma can be caused by a variety of events, abuse (emotional and physical), accidents, natural disasters, childhood trauma, and anything that causes harm to someone mentally or physically. For individuals who have endured trauma, specific triggers can flood them with memories because of the traumatic event that happened to them.
What Are Trauma Triggers?
Trauma can be anything from illness to childhood trauma. Every person processes trauma differently, and why counseling is a way to process trauma and work through it with a licensed therapist. When faced with reminders or "triggers," it can be common with individuals who haven't processed their trauma and unhealed trauma. Triggers can be internal, which translates as a memory, or external, such as smell, sound, or sight. Trauma triggers can take over when they happen, leading to anxiety or panic attacks.
My Partner Triggers My Trauma on Purpose
Partners can be contributors to traumas, whether intentional or unintentional. When a partner does something to remind their partner of the trauma, it can cause the trigger to happen. For example, suppose a person experienced physical abuse by their ex and their current partner raises their voice and yells at their partner. In that case, it can trigger anxiety with the partner feeling there will be a repeat of their past. To help the trauma triggers within a relationship, couples counseling can help the couple process their emotions to avoid unintentionally harming the other and understanding their partner better.
Betrayal Trauma Triggers
Betrayal trauma is when trust is broken by infidelity, lies, or anything that breaks the trust within the relationship. Some other causes of betrayal trauma can include financial lies, emotional abuse, or having secrets in your partnership that would harm the other. Being betrayed can bring up many emotions, such as anger, fear, sadness, or shame. Individuals can process their feelings in a safe, non-judgmental space by seeking therapy. Before starting a new relationship, healing the wounds of a betrayal from your past can help build healthier, stronger bonds with your future partner. Or if you decide to stay with your current partner, healing the wounds from the betrayal can help rebuild the lost trust.
Anniversary Dates
Specific dates can trigger traumatic events, such as an anniversary, and can be very triggering for those who suffered from traumatic events in previous relationships. When dates come up, the memories flood and the emotions can be hard to process. Having a therapist and a support system can help you get through these dates.
Loud Noises
For some individuals, hearing loud noises such as gunshots, thunder, ambulances, and police sirens can trigger individuals who had trauma. Veterans, mass shooting survivors, gun violence, weather-related trauma, or anything that resembles a loud noise that brings them back to the event. The noises, especially when unexpected, can make a person feel on edge and anxious and can lead to a panic attack. When in a situation where someone has anxiety or a flashback, being in a safe space to go to when loud noises can help, as well as having a therapist to talk to.
Certain Smells
According to psychiatry.org, smells can trigger emotionally triggered trauma. Just as a positive smell can trigger happy memories, a negative response to a smell can trigger unhappy, traumatic memories. Smells are linked to human emotions. Smells such as incense, food, perfume, smoke, diesel exhaust (especially in Veterans), or any scent that triggers past events. If you were wearing a particular perfume and an adverse event happened, your brain would associate that perfume with the event. So, whenever you smell the same perfume, the traumatic event will trigger you and cause distress, anxiety, or harmful thoughts.
Physical Touch
If a person experiences sexual abuse, physical touch is typically a sensitive area and can be difficult when entering a new relationship. Even a huge can trigger a negative memory and bring back the same fear when the traumatic event of sexual abuse occurred. Feelings of fear, shame, and vulnerability can be brought to the surface. Having firm boundaries is important if someone experiences any sexual abuse. Communicating with your partner what is triggering and working through it with support and feeling safe with the person you are with. If you’re in a new relationship or an existing partnership and struggling with intimacy of any kind, individual or couples therapy can help.
Seeing Someone Who Resembles the Perpetrator
Have you ever seen someone who looks similar to the person who triggered your trauma? It could be an ex whom you left years ago that hurt you, and you see someone who resembles them; this can bring up emotions like fear, anger, anxiety, sadness, despair, vulnerability, and shame. Seeing someone who looks or acts similar is a triggering event.
Feeling Overwhelmed
Being overwhelmed, stressed, or having a bad week can bring up trauma. For individuals with trauma or mental health disorders, OCD, for example, unhealthy amounts of stress can be triggering and bring up negative feelings. For those who have experienced trauma, being overwhelmed heightens your sympathetic nervous system and is responsible for the "fight or flight" response. When triggered, your body and mind are unsure how to respond and revert to stress and danger. Feelings such as panic, anxiety, and a sense of doom or dread tend to come over in these responses. Working on regulating your synaptic nervous system can be beneficial when overcoming anxiety caused by trauma. Self-care activities and preventative measures to help regulate your nervous system.
Seeing or Hearing About Similar Traumatic Events
Let's say you were affected by a firework explosion as a teenager and have a severe burn from a faulty firework. Having a traumatic event like this happening can be triggering if you see fireworks or hear them. Bringing up emotions associated with the event, no matter how long ago, can still bring up unwanted memories. If you find yourself being triggered by events, seeking therapy can help.
Feeling Out of Control
When someone feels out of control, their nervous system becomes dysregulated, bringing up feelings of helplessness, disassociated/disconnectedness from themselves, and an immense sense of vulnerability. An example, if someone is fired from their job unexpectedly, it can bring up thoughts of rejection, loss, fear, and helplessness; it can also be a trigger during other times when they have similar feelings.
Coping with Trauma Triggers
Coping with trauma triggers isn't easy, and this is why therapy can be a tremendous help. There are coping strategies that can help. Here are some tips for managing trauma triggers:
One of the key steps in managing trauma triggers is identifying them. By recognizing your triggers, you gain control and can prepare for them. This preparation is crucial. For instance, if fireworks are a trigger, you may not always be able to avoid them, but around the Fourth of July, you can anticipate their presence and practice coping skills in advance.
Practicing mindfulness and grounding techniques. Grounding techniques such as the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise, breathing exercises, mindfulness meditations, and others give you a sense of peace and relaxation. Mindfulness takes practice, but adding it to your life can offer relief from trauma stressors.
Having a support system in your life can help with trauma triggers and voicing these to those you care about if you're in a relationship and have triggers around physical touch through healthy communication and boundary setting.
If you know that certain events are triggering, coming up with a plan of action or safety plan is important. For instance, if you're a victim of gun violence that happened in a mall, knowing if you shop at a mall, where the exit doors are can be helpful to those who have experienced these types of events. Another example is if you know fireworks will trigger you, deciding if you want to attend an event with fireworks.
Self-care is important and a way to practice mindfulness. There are many ways to practice self-care. Remember that self-care isn't selfish and is essential for your mental health.
Seeking Help at Sagebrush Counseling for Trauma Triggers
If you find yourself experiencing trauma triggers that are affecting your life or want to work through trauma or a traumatic event that happened to you. We can help—by using modalities such as Internal Family Systems, ACT, and a psychodynamic approach, going into the depths and helping you process and heal those parts of yourself.
