What to Do When Your Trauma is Triggered

Smells, sounds, and situations can all be reminders of trauma. For individuals who have been through trauma, understanding your triggers and learning how to cope can help you deal with your response in a healthy way. 

While it’s important to process trauma at your own pace when you feel ready, learning about your trauma triggers and healthy coping methods can help when an episode does arise. 

Examples of Trauma Triggers

Trauma triggers are things that remind you of trauma or a traumatic event. These can be very personal to you and differ from one person to another. Here are some examples of trauma triggers:

• Sounds, music, noises, or voices
• Sights, objects, places, or images 
• Touches and physical sensations
• Smells and odors 
• Tastes and flavors

Trauma triggers can also include specific people, anniversaries, and certain emotions like feeling helpless or angry. 

For example, someone in a car accident may be triggered by the sound of tires screeching and horns, the smell of gasoline, and the sight and smell of a hospital. A sudden stop in the car or even feeling out of control in a situation can remind them of a traumatic experience. 

Trauma triggers can be subtle or obvious but can cause a range of emotional and physical reactions, including: 

• Anxiety
• Panic attacks   
• Flashbacks
• Nightmares
• Difficulty sleeping   
• Difficulty concentrating
• Irritability
• Hypervigilance
• Avoidance
• Intrusive thoughts 

Identifying Your Triggers

While trauma and PTSD are often used interchangeably, they are different. Trauma is a deeply distressing experience that can happen over time or from one single event. When a person has experienced trauma, they can develop a mental health condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD. Both trauma and PTSD can have a significant impact on a person’s life and typically require professional help to process, cope, and move forward.  

When you encounter a trauma trigger, it can feel like you are reliving the trauma all over again. Identifying your trauma triggers can be a difficult process because it’s not always obvious. Some trauma triggers will be clearer, like a news article about a similar traumatic experience. 

To identify your triggers, think about what’s happening when you feel those emotional and physical reactions to trauma triggers. Write down the answers to the following questions:

• Where are you?
• What do you smell, hear, or taste?
• Do you have any physical reactions like a racing heart or sweating?
• What thoughts are you currently experiencing? 
• How do you feel? 

While you can identify trauma triggers on your own, a mental health professional is highly trained to help individuals go through the painful journey of processing and managing trauma. 

How to Deal With Trauma Triggers

While avoiding all your triggers sounds like a logical plan, there are so many triggers that are out of your control. Avoidance is a natural defense mechanism that acts as a protective shield. However, it can become a cycle that’s hard to break, worsening symptoms. 

Depending on your individual case, there are a few different coping strategies for dealing with trauma triggers. 

Self-Help Strategies

A response to a trauma trigger can feel incredibly overwhelming. Self-help strategies for dealing with trauma triggers focus on breathing, grounding, and relaxation to try to lessen the impact the triggers have. 

Some self-help strategies that may be useful include: 

• Focus on deep breathing and try to slow down your breathing by counting in and out for five seconds each. 
• Practice mindfulness to focus on the present moment instead of ruminating on the past. 
• Learn relaxation techniques or self-soothing to comfort yourself when you can feel stress and anxiety building. 
• Talk to someone like a friend, family member, therapist, or doctor. You don’t need to go into more detail than you are comfortable with, but just say how you feel. 
• Take care of your physical well-being by drinking water, eating healthy foods, exercising, and spending time outside. 
• Write down how you feel in the moment, your thoughts, and memories that are coming up. 
• Grounding techniques are strategies to help pull you away from flashbacks, negative thoughts, or difficult emotions. They can look different for everyone but can include stamping your feet, naming all the objects around you that you can see, spelling words out loud, mindfulness, and using sensory objects. 

Therapy Approaches

Trauma can deeply impact every part of your life. Healing from trauma is not a linear process. It’s not predictable, and there’s no set timeline. Trauma therapy can help you to understand your trauma, talk about difficult experiences and feelings, and address the fallout of trauma. Depending on your individual case, there are a few different approaches and techniques a therapist may use, such as: 

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): CBT works by helping people to identify harmful thoughts and feelings related to the trauma, helping to improve symptoms and reduce anxiety and depression. 
• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT): This type of therapy helps individuals who have experienced trauma to correct the inaccurate beliefs that they have about themselves by changing these beliefs. It helps individuals to develop a healthier perspective and coping mechanisms. 
• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT): This is a type of CBT specifically designed to treat trauma and address emotional and mental health needs, helping individuals process their trauma and develop healthier coping strategies. 
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): This is a unique form of therapy that aims to lessen the negative feelings associated with the memory of the trauma. A therapist uses back-and-forth eye movements or sounds while you recall the distressing memory to process and help reframe traumatic memories. 
• Family Therapy: When a traumatic event impacts multiple family members, family therapy can help to improve communication, enhance support, and address family dynamics and unhealthy patterns. 
• Group Therapy: This type of therapy can provide peer support and let individuals know they are not alone in their experiences and learn from others. 

Medication Support

In some cases, medications may be prescribed to help reduce and manage the symptoms you experience in the aftermath of trauma. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that are commonly prescribed include sertraline and paroxetine. The decision to take medication is personal and is an important conversation to have with your mental health professional, doctor, or psychiatrist. 

Build a Safety Plan

Trauma can leave emotional wounds and scars that are extremely difficult to deal with. Sometimes, even the process of trying to understand your trauma triggers can be triggering in itself. Before you start to identify your trauma triggers, think about what you will do if you feel overwhelmed or distressed. 

Think about what makes you feel safe and in control. Maybe it’s reading, talking, being around a close friend, or sleeping under a weighted blanket. Then, think about where you feel the safest. Is it calm and quiet? What behaviors make you feel safe? What about taking five deep breaths, listening to calming music, or splashing your face with cold water? A safety plan will look different depending on the individual. 

Reach out for help if you need support. This can include friends, family members, a therapist, or crisis hotlines. 

When to Contact Thriving Center of Psychology

If you have experienced a traumatic event or experience and you’re having a difficult time, then you may benefit from seeking support and speaking with a therapist. 

Here’s how trauma may affect your life: 

• Persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, anger, and numbness
• Difficulty regulating emotions
• Flashbacks and nightmares 
• Shame and guilt
• Difficulty trusting others
• Physical symptoms (headaches, stomachaches, fatigue)
• Symptoms of PTSD (intrusive thoughts, avoidance, flashbacks, hypervigilance, etc) 
• Sleep disturbances (difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep) 
• Startle response
• Avoidance of trauma-related triggers
• Substance abuse
• Risk-taking behaviors
• Self-harm or suicidal thoughts 
• Difficulty concentrating
• Friends and family are noticing changes, either in your behavior or mood. 

When seeking professional help, it’s essential to speak with someone who specializes in trauma and PTSD. If you plan on opening up to someone about your experiences, you need to feel like they are right for you. Contact Thriving Center of Psych today to speak with a compassionate and caring therapist and begin the healing process.