Dealing with Emotional Triggers
Trigger is a popular buzz word. From college campuses to social media, you can see trigger warnings or trigger alerts for loads of situations. There has been widening research about the brain and how we process and store information. The mind:body connection is receiving much attention. Some people have begun to study emotional triggers.
Emotional Triggers
Neurotransmitters and the cascade of physical responses that occur as a result are problematic for people who have survived violence, child sexual abuse, trafficking, and other trauma. We need to know how to cope. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other severe mental anguish require professional help. That is not what I am addressing here.
This is for people who are in the process of healing and are looking for a gentle reminder of how they can use simple strategies to help manage their emotional triggers. I hope it will be helpful to survivors of abuse.
Triggers can come from sensory input or seem to pop up out of the blue. A smell or sound can cause sudden uncontrollable emotions, like grief or anger. It may be that a photo or a place might elicit a strong fear response. In my case, a knife could send me into a full-blown panic. I would go nearly catatonic. I’d stop breathing and resume very shallow breaths and stay petrified with my arms and shoulders pulled in tight. I used the strategies below to manage the physical response to the past abuse involving knives.
Another person might hear a certain sound that will make them fly into a rage. In that case, they might use the strategies to pinpoint the reaction, evaluate their response and get help. Our bodies remember, even if we have been able to put it out of our conscious minds.
For this reason, I pray to our heavenly Father that you would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in your inner man that you will know how deep and wide the love of God is and that you would know that His love surpasses natural knowledge, that you would be rooted and grounded in His Love. My own version of Eph. 3:14-17.
Practice Mindfulness
Think about what you’re thinking about and choose to think about positive things. Recalling past trauma is inevitable but if we are intentional about thinking of the good things in life our bodies will produce more good chemicals that will keep us healthier. We don’t have to think every thought that pops into our minds. We can choose.
Prepare for Triggers
When you are calm and things are good, tell yourself that you are important, that the things that happened to you will not determine your future. Remind yourself that when things come up, you have ways of handling them. Tell yourself out loud that you can cope with the difficulties of life. After you determine that you can, remind yourself of how you will. Tell yourself which strategies work for you and remind yourself that you can use them and you will.
Journal
Journaling will help you figure out what your emotional triggers are, how they affect you and which strategies work to help you get through. Keep track of everything, every day at first. What you ate, what time you did what you did, who you interacted with, and what emotional states you were in will go a long way to help you to sort through. You might need a professional or a friend to help you piece things together. The journal record will act as a moderator. You’ll soon connect the dots from action or stimuli to behaviors.
Take Note
This may seem redundant, but actually, we can go through our day without noticing what we are thinking, what we are saying, especially to ourselves and what is going on around us. Sometimes, simply paying attention to where we are and remaining present can make a huge difference. Look at the date, the time, the places that you are. Who do you talk to and how you feel when you speak to them? Feel yourself at work, at home, in the grocery store. Are there tasks that add to your anxiety? Are there dates or seasons that are significant?
Become Grounded
Being grounded is a good thing. In order to be secure in our current surroundings, we often have to connect to what has made us feel secure in the past. For some people, like me, that has to be developed. There have been too many adverse childhood experiences for simple things like cuddling a stuffed animal and it may not be practical for you to do so at work or school. Becoming grounded is a process. You might use a tool. A bracelet or a watch that you can touch with your hands when you are at ease and feel good will translate those feelings when you are stressed as well.The key is to find a thing that you can take with you from a peaceful state.
There is so much to this process. Let me know if I should expand on anything. We could look at lists of grounding techniques, for example. Comment below or shoot me an email. Be well, my friends.