PTSD Triggers - The Core Root Before Symptoms are Activated

[anthony]

People often wonder where a symptom begins, in that to identify with a symptom, you actually need to know what triggers you to begin with. Know the triggers, and you aid the symptoms by avoiding the triggers. Whilst avoidance in symptom aspects is not encouraged at all, avoidance of triggers themselves is generally highly encouraged, as these are the core root of PTSD concerns.

The root of triggers is actually so easy, I forgot to even mention it here. The core root of post traumatic stress disorder symptoms, generally stems from one of the human five senses, being:
Sight
Sound
Touch
Taste
SmellTo lay it out easier, I will provide examples of each under various circumstances that are directly related to peoples trauma upon this forum. A trigger is vastly different from a symptom, as a trigger is what activates a symptom. Remove some triggers, you automatically lessen / remove some symptoms.

Sight
Rape - a person who may look similar to your attacker
Abuse - seeing the abuser, ie. family member
Combat - watching the news outlining current combat situations around the world, seeing the devastation as is the media today, live footage
Accident - seeing another car accident, or seeing a car that was the same as you had your accidentSound
Rape - a familiar sentence or phrase your rapist may off used, a similar voice to your attacker
Abuse - childhood abuse situations such as doors slamming, comments made whilst abusing you or attempting to get too you
Combat - helicopters, gun shots, the sounds within rain forest or jungle
Accident - emergency vehicle sirens, small petrol equipment similar to the jaws of life (chainsaw), truck brakesTouch
Rape - simply anyone touching you, brushing up against you
Abuse - strong holds, gripping your arm, punching, kicking
Combat - strong violence, fighting, holding a weapon again, knife
Accident - just touching the door handle to get in a car, driving a car or motorbike, etc.Taste
Rape - a foreign object used in your mouth, oral sex
Abuse - same as rape, blood, sweat or your tears that you tasted whilst abused
Combat - similar tasting food from when in combat
Accident - blood, liquid, fuelSmell
Rape - aftershave, deoderant, washing powder type
Abuse - same as rape
Combat - fuels, gun powder, jungle smell, food smell, foreigner scent
Accident - fuel, oil, medical disinfectant, rubber, burningI think you get the idea from the very quick list of examples. If you really think about each of your trauma, you could identify one of the five senses, if not more, that are actually a trigger to your trauma, thus increasing your symptom strength.

Identification of your triggers is a primary role and key to success in reducing your symptoms.

Please post your associations below from what you pickup as a trigger sense to your trauma. You should be able to identify atleast one for every trauma generally...

[wildfirewildone]

:claps: I am sooooooooo glad that you posted this!!! I already have knowledge of these trigger roots...it was helpful to see them in print so that I can use them on my journey!!!! I really congratulate you,Anthony...with having so much time to POST so much of your knowledge...You have been quite an example to me by your continuous concern for the all of us in the PTSD community [in this forum and in the rest of the world] :thumbs-up With me I rarely am aware what has triggered me until my symptom flare-up has
considerably diminished....I may realize what the trigger is though I don't have a "button" to turn off my nervous system's responses....This is where my therapist comes in to play....he gently provides me with awareness of how to "chill-down"....and he takes the time to extend his knowledge in a timely but gentle way....not adding more to my frustrations...Glad I have him too:biggrin: PEACE TO ALL

[anthony]

Thanks wildfire, much appreciated. I think your doing a wonderful job in yourself though, because when you look at things, your actively seeking help for yourself, professional therapy and assistance, and general support here, well done. Many of us never give ourselves enough credit for the hard work we do with ourselves... so maybe you should be giving yourself some of that credit also for a job well done.

Triggers are just something that we learn in time. They will always be triggers, but it is the reaction that we learn to control, and only the trigger we learn to identify. For example, I know that reading through endless PTSD reports, medical documents, books, recounts of trauma in gruesome detail, is a trigger for me, because when I first started doing it, I ended up sick for a day or two afterwards, each time I built up information then sifted through it in one go. I identified the cause of the trigger. Well actually, it jumped out at me, but still it is a trigger. What I learnt and taught myself mentally, was that even though this was a trigger, there has to be a happy medium to where I can read the most terrible incidents of life, and still function, because that is what I need to do to help get important facets of others experience and information here, into a light where it could help someone else. I have slowly worked on that particular trigger, to now know I can read endless stories and medical documents, with little to no side effects anymore. Basically, I took them for what they are, information, and other peoples information and traumas, not mine. The problem with PTSD, is that we tend to take on others traumas also when reading them, something we must develop and ensure we don't do, because our own emotional tanks and cups of stress don't have room for others trauma, with the end result being we overfill and explode or shutdown.

I think in conjunction with trauma therapy, triggers can be isolated and many can be removed. Some can't, some can. This particular trigger for me, I was able to remove, as I haven't had any side effects recently from reading trauma related incidents. On the other hand, I can not remove the trigger of shopping center crowds if I haven't mentally prepared myself to handle them for a set duration, ie. being in the shops when quiet, but during the time when school finishes, thus a flood of children rush shopping centers to hang out and be cool. I can be in a shop for some time doing something, when I walk out, suddenly the center is crowded, I get triggered instantly, and it gets worst as I try to get my way out of the center. Mental preparation, which I am constantly attempting to work upon, but for some reason just can't beat that particular scenario, so I generally avoid that scenario by ensuring I don't go near shopping centers or out even, around the time school finishes. It is one trigger that avoidance is appropriate for me to eliminate it from flaring my symptoms.