How to deal with trauma triggers
How to Identify and Overcome Triggers
When you encounter a trigger after trauma, a strong emotional and behavioral reaction comes over you. It’s as if you are reliving that trauma all over again.
The word “triggered” has become a popular term to describe anything that causes emotional discomfort. But for people who have experienced trauma, triggers can be terrifying, all-consuming, and can seemingly come out of nowhere.
Trauma triggers can be anything that reminds you of a past trauma — which might include a certain smell, a particular song or sound, or a piece of clothing. Triggers are unique to the individual.
Trauma is known to have a long lasting and repetitive effect on our minds. However, there is hope for those who experience trauma’s aftereffects. Trauma-informed care and other treatments can help you can live a happy and fulfilling life.
A trigger can be anything that sparks a memory of a trauma, or a part of a trauma.
When you encounter a trigger, memories and thoughts associated with the trauma come back without warning. You cannot stop the intrusive thoughts, and in response, you feel a turn in your emotions and begin to react.
A trigger might make you feel helpless, panicked, unsafe, and overwhelmed with emotion. You might feel the same things that you felt at the time of the trauma, as though you were reliving the event.
The mind perceives triggers as a threat and causes a reaction like fear, panic, or agitation. Think of the reaction to triggers as a defense mechanism: The memory of the traumatic event places you right back into the experience, which causes your walls to go up against the perceived threat in an attempt to protect yourself.
Flashbacks, although uncommon, can be set off by triggers.
How we respond when triggered depends on the person and can range in severity.
After encountering a trigger, it can take some time for your nervous system to recover and return to baseline. This is partly because trauma reduces your window of tolerance — the emotional zone in which you feel grounded, balanced, and calm.
A smaller window of tolerance means stressors are more likely to cause greater emotional upset.
Experiencing triggers is a defining feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Triggers are often key events in which PTSD symptoms arise or are noticed.
Healing from trauma is challenging and takes time. It may feel like the easiest way to overcome it is to avoid it or pretend it isn‘t happening. However, it is best to spot your triggers to learn how to manage them instead of avoiding them.
Even if you’re not sure what has triggered you, there are steps you can take. When a trigger leaves you feeling emotionally flooded, you can try following these steps to soothe and regulate your nervous system:
- Focus on what’s happening in the here and now.
- Remind yourself that this is a common reaction to a traumatic event, and you can get through it.
- Perform breathing exercises to calm your mind.
- Manage the trigger with different ways to cope, such as using the flashback halting protocol.
What is flashback halting protocol?
Triggers can make it feel like you are living the traumatic event all over again. The flashback halting protocol aims to halt the flashback and bring you back to the present moment. This can help your mind and body realize that the trauma isn‘t actually happening anymore.
Next time you find yourself faced with a flashback, try reading and answering these questions to yourself:
- Right now, I am feeling _____ (scared, anxious, panicky, sad, etc.).
- And I am sensing in my body_____ (shaking, sweating, dizziness, etc.).
- Because I am remembering _____ (the bad person, the vehicle, the war, etc.).
- And at the same time, it is now _____ (say current date and time).
- And I am here at _____ (name the place).
- And I can see _____ (name five objects around you).
- And so I know that _____ (the trauma) is not happening now.
Responses to trauma are very individualized.
Chances are, two people who experience a similar traumatic event won’t share triggers or have the same symptoms afterward.
Trauma triggers vary widely between people, and they can be anything at all, such as feeling a certain emotion, encountering an everyday event, or seeing a highly specific pattern. Some examples of possible trauma triggers include:
Sounds
Hearing a specific sound can lead to an unwanted response and trigger our bodies to react and feel unsafe, even in a secure environment. Some examples of trigger sounds can include:
- sirens
- music
- fireworks
- footsteps
- gunshots
- sounds of crying
- someone yelling
Sights
Seeing a particular item, environment, or person can easily be a trigger. For example, after a car accident, seeing a similar car to the one you were driving at the time of the traumatic event can lead to an unwanted response.
Some other examples include seeing:
- people of similar ages and characteristics to others involved in the traumatic situation
- an intoxicated person
- a building or place
- healthcare professionals, such as first responders
- a piece of clothing
Smells
Our senses connect directly to our brains and constantly send messages as we interact with the world around us.
Smells are closely linked with memory. It’s easy for a smell to bring up mental images and feelings you associate with that smell, like the smell of cinnamon evoking memories of Christmas.
When we smell something, our brain immediately tries to identify the scent. As it works on figuring it out, it can also jog memories of when we’ve encountered that same scent before.
Possible triggers that come from smells include:
- a fragrance or cologne
- alcoholic drinks
- grilling meats
- gasoline
- certain foods or drinks
Situations
Sometimes, we may find ourselves in certain situations that trigger a traumatic memory. Some circumstances that trigger emotions may be:
- speaking with an authority figure
- encountering someone with perceived narcissism
- driving in a car
- experiencing rejection
- experiencing a violation of your boundaries
- unwanted physical touch
Emotions
Sometimes, a particular emotion is associated with the traumatic event.
You might encounter a seemingly manageable situation as an adult in which you feel helpless, which might remind you of times when you were truly helpless as a child. This could then trigger memories of childhood experiences, causing emotional flooding and overwhelm.
Other examples of emotional triggers are:
- feeling ignored
- sensing abandonment
- feeling sad or crying
Sometimes, you can quickly identify a trigger and begin to anticipate it. However, our triggers can also be subtle and even surprising. Once you identify a trigger, you’ve taken the first step to learning to manage it.
Triggers often feel unpredictable, but when we identify our triggers, we find connections between events, feelings, or sights that cause an immediate emotional or behavioral reaction. There are different ways to accomplish this.
First, you can start a journal and write down your thoughts, feelings, and environment at the time of your flashbacks or feelings of panic.
Prompts on what to write may include:
- What did you hear?
- What did you see?
- What did you smell?
- How were you feeling?
Then, you can begin making connections and identifying similarities to identify your triggers.
A 2013 study asked 46 trauma survivors to complete a daily diary to identify possible intrusions (unwanted trauma memories). Over 7 consecutive days, they reported a total of 294 intrusions. The researchers found that participants were significantly unaware of the triggers that led up to the intrusive memories.
If you are ready to seek professional help for possible trauma symptoms, you can work with a psychotherapist or counselor to identify your potential triggers. An experienced mental health professional can also provide an outside view of your reactions and help you locate their possible causes.
When you are reminded of a life changing traumatic event, it can take over your life and lead to adverse effects on your psychological and physical health.
If you feel ready to talk to someone about it, consider looking for trauma-focused treatment.
Treatments supported by frontline research can drastically decrease the frequency of the effects of triggers — for example, decreasing intrusive memories. These treatments include prolonged exposure (PE) therapy and cognitive processing therapy (CPT).
You can learn more about recovering from trauma by checking out this article titled, Can you recover from trauma? Spoiler alert: You can recover from trauma!
How to Identify and Overcome Triggers
When you encounter a trigger after trauma, a strong emotional and behavioral reaction comes over you. It’s as if you are reliving that trauma all over again.
The word “triggered” has become a popular term to describe anything that causes emotional discomfort. But for people who have experienced trauma, triggers can be terrifying, all-consuming, and can seemingly come out of nowhere.
Trauma triggers can be anything that reminds you of a past trauma — which might include a certain smell, a particular song or sound, or a piece of clothing.
Triggers are unique to the individual.
Trauma is known to have a long lasting and repetitive effect on our minds. However, there is hope for those who experience trauma’s aftereffects. Trauma-informed care and other treatments can help you can live a happy and fulfilling life.
A trigger can be anything that sparks a memory of a trauma, or a part of a trauma.
When you encounter a trigger, memories and thoughts associated with the trauma come back without warning. You cannot stop the intrusive thoughts, and in response, you feel a turn in your emotions and begin to react.
A trigger might make you feel helpless, panicked, unsafe, and overwhelmed with emotion. You might feel the same things that you felt at the time of the trauma, as though you were reliving the event.
The mind perceives triggers as a threat and causes a reaction like fear, panic, or agitation. Think of the reaction to triggers as a defense mechanism: The memory of the traumatic event places you right back into the experience, which causes your walls to go up against the perceived threat in an attempt to protect yourself.
Flashbacks, although uncommon, can be set off by triggers.
How we respond when triggered depends on the person and can range in severity.
After encountering a trigger, it can take some time for your nervous system to recover and return to baseline. This is partly because trauma reduces your window of tolerance — the emotional zone in which you feel grounded, balanced, and calm. A smaller window of tolerance means stressors are more likely to cause greater emotional upset.
Experiencing triggers is a defining feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Triggers are often key events in which PTSD symptoms arise or are noticed.
Healing from trauma is challenging and takes time. It may feel like the easiest way to overcome it is to avoid it or pretend it isn‘t happening. However, it is best to spot your triggers to learn how to manage them instead of avoiding them.
Even if you’re not sure what has triggered you, there are steps you can take. When a trigger leaves you feeling emotionally flooded, you can try following these steps to soothe and regulate your nervous system:
- Focus on what’s happening in the here and now.
- Remind yourself that this is a common reaction to a traumatic event, and you can get through it.
- Perform breathing exercises to calm your mind.
- Manage the trigger with different ways to cope, such as using the flashback halting protocol.
What is flashback halting protocol?
Triggers can make it feel like you are living the traumatic event all over again. The flashback halting protocol aims to halt the flashback and bring you back to the present moment. This can help your mind and body realize that the trauma isn‘t actually happening anymore.
Next time you find yourself faced with a flashback, try reading and answering these questions to yourself:
- Right now, I am feeling _____ (scared, anxious, panicky, sad, etc.).
- And I am sensing in my body_____ (shaking, sweating, dizziness, etc.).
- Because I am remembering _____ (the bad person, the vehicle, the war, etc.).
- And at the same time, it is now _____ (say current date and time).
- And I am here at _____ (name the place).
- And I can see _____ (name five objects around you).
- And so I know that _____ (the trauma) is not happening now.
Responses to trauma are very individualized. Chances are, two people who experience a similar traumatic event won’t share triggers or have the same symptoms afterward.
Trauma triggers vary widely between people, and they can be anything at all, such as feeling a certain emotion, encountering an everyday event, or seeing a highly specific pattern. Some examples of possible trauma triggers include:
Sounds
Hearing a specific sound can lead to an unwanted response and trigger our bodies to react and feel unsafe, even in a secure environment. Some examples of trigger sounds can include:
- sirens
- music
- fireworks
- footsteps
- gunshots
- sounds of crying
- someone yelling
Sights
Seeing a particular item, environment, or person can easily be a trigger.
For example, after a car accident, seeing a similar car to the one you were driving at the time of the traumatic event can lead to an unwanted response.
Some other examples include seeing:
- people of similar ages and characteristics to others involved in the traumatic situation
- an intoxicated person
- a building or place
- healthcare professionals, such as first responders
- a piece of clothing
Smells
Our senses connect directly to our brains and constantly send messages as we interact with the world around us.
Smells are closely linked with memory. It’s easy for a smell to bring up mental images and feelings you associate with that smell, like the smell of cinnamon evoking memories of Christmas.
When we smell something, our brain immediately tries to identify the scent. As it works on figuring it out, it can also jog memories of when we’ve encountered that same scent before.
Possible triggers that come from smells include:
- a fragrance or cologne
- alcoholic drinks
- grilling meats
- gasoline
- certain foods or drinks
Situations
Sometimes, we may find ourselves in certain situations that trigger a traumatic memory.
Some circumstances that trigger emotions may be:
- speaking with an authority figure
- encountering someone with perceived narcissism
- driving in a car
- experiencing rejection
- experiencing a violation of your boundaries
- unwanted physical touch
Emotions
Sometimes, a particular emotion is associated with the traumatic event. You might encounter a seemingly manageable situation as an adult in which you feel helpless, which might remind you of times when you were truly helpless as a child. This could then trigger memories of childhood experiences, causing emotional flooding and overwhelm.
Other examples of emotional triggers are:
- feeling ignored
- sensing abandonment
- feeling sad or crying
Sometimes, you can quickly identify a trigger and begin to anticipate it. However, our triggers can also be subtle and even surprising. Once you identify a trigger, you’ve taken the first step to learning to manage it.
Triggers often feel unpredictable, but when we identify our triggers, we find connections between events, feelings, or sights that cause an immediate emotional or behavioral reaction. There are different ways to accomplish this.
First, you can start a journal and write down your thoughts, feelings, and environment at the time of your flashbacks or feelings of panic. Prompts on what to write may include:
- What did you hear?
- What did you see?
- What did you smell?
- How were you feeling?
Then, you can begin making connections and identifying similarities to identify your triggers.
A 2013 study asked 46 trauma survivors to complete a daily diary to identify possible intrusions (unwanted trauma memories). Over 7 consecutive days, they reported a total of 294 intrusions. The researchers found that participants were significantly unaware of the triggers that led up to the intrusive memories.
If you are ready to seek professional help for possible trauma symptoms, you can work with a psychotherapist or counselor to identify your potential triggers.
An experienced mental health professional can also provide an outside view of your reactions and help you locate their possible causes.
When you are reminded of a life changing traumatic event, it can take over your life and lead to adverse effects on your psychological and physical health. If you feel ready to talk to someone about it, consider looking for trauma-focused treatment.
Treatments supported by frontline research can drastically decrease the frequency of the effects of triggers — for example, decreasing intrusive memories. These treatments include prolonged exposure (PE) therapy and cognitive processing therapy (CPT).
You can learn more about recovering from trauma by checking out this article titled, Can you recover from trauma? Spoiler alert: You can recover from trauma!
What is a trigger in psychology?
What is a trigger
Finished reading here
Initially, the concept of "trigger" in psychology was used mainly when it came to people who experienced trauma.
A trigger is a stimulus that reminds you of a trauma, causes severe stress, panic, flashbacks, makes you re-experience traumatic events as if in reality.
For a participant or witness of combat operations with PTSD, the sound of fireworks sometimes works as a trigger - it reminds of explosions and bombings and immerses in painful memories. A person who was bitten by a dog as a child may, at the sight of dogs of the same breed, each time emotionally return to a state of fear and pain and experience an overwhelming desire to run away. For a child who has been bullied, the word being teased can be a trigger - if they hear it, it will cause stress or even a fit of anger and rage.
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In the context of other mental disorders, a trigger is a stimulus that provokes an exacerbation or return of symptoms of a disease.
The sight of a spider is a trigger for an arachnophobe and can lead to a panic attack. Accidentally touching something dirty will cause a person with OCD to compulsively wash their hands. The smell of alcohol or the mention of drugs can make those who are addicted to alcohol or drugs have a strong desire to immediately consume the substance in question, and stress can provoke overeating in people with eating disorders.
Now you can often find the verb "trigger", and it is used in a variety of contexts - in the sense of "causing unpleasant experiences, memories, emotions." But you need to be aware that there is a big difference between ordinary unpleasant sensations and the actual re-experiencing of trauma.
How a trigger works
When a person encounters a trigger, the same thing happens as in a real stressful situation.
The person seems to be in the moment of trauma. The trigger activates the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers a self-defense mechanism that includes three possible responses: fight, run, or freeze. The stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol are released. All resources are directed to survival: the heartbeat quickens, the lungs expand. Bodily functions not directly required for running or fighting, such as digestion and the immune system, are suppressed.
Blood drains from the prefrontal cortex - the area responsible for planning, decision making, emotional regulation and volitional control - and flows to the "primitive" areas responsible for instinctive and reflex behavior.
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As a result, the ability to control emotions, use logic to analyze the situation, make decisions and overcome stress is suppressed; a person experiences severe anxiety, gives in to impulses - to run away, scream, pounce with fists.
So the trigger can cause a panic attack or a nervous breakdown.
Moreover, the reaction may seem disproportionately violent compared to the scale of the trigger. But the fact is that the trigger makes a person mentally experience a real trauma, and at that moment he loses touch with reality. For example, in a person who experienced the trauma of rejection as a child, a missed call or unanswered message can provoke panic - because it will emotionally throw him back to his childhood, where he was abandoned by his parents.
How triggers are formed
Scientists are still not entirely clear how triggers are formed. Most likely, the matter is in the mechanisms of memory.
According to the study, sensory information from the senses plays an important role in the formation of memory.
One theory is that when we experience traumatic events, our brain stores the accompanying sensory experiences in memory. So if we encounter these stimuli again some time later, the brain reactivates the sensations associated with the trauma. For example, if a person had an accident while certain music was playing in the car, then in the future the sounds of this music will turn into a trigger and will remind him of the accident and the emotions that he experienced then.
Another theory suggests that memories of traumatic events are stored in the human brain in a special way. In stressful situations, as a result of the suppression of the work of the prefrontal cortex, the process of forming short-term memory is disrupted, and the event is marked not as an event in the past, but as a threat that exists in the present. When the trigger is reminiscent of a trauma, the person's body reacts as if the traumatic situation is unfolding right now, specifically activating the fight-or-flight response.
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Moreover, this is not a mistake of nature, but also a protective mechanism - a person is thus on alert and in case of danger he will be able to react faster. Police sometimes reflexively shoot to kill as soon as they see the trigger - a weapon in the hands of a suspect. This can save the life of a policeman, but sometimes it leads to tragic situations - when people who were holding toy weapons or just a similar object were under bullets.
Habits can contribute to the formation of triggers. People prefer to act according to familiar patterns - this relieves the brain of the need to make decisions and saves energy. If two activities are associated with each other, then one can become a trigger for the other. A simple example: a person is used to drinking alcohol while fishing. If he decides to stop drinking, he will want to drink every time he goes fishing - this is also a trigger.
People may react differently to the same traumatic event: if one is not seriously affected at all, another may develop PTSD. According to the study, the effect that a traumatic situation has on a person depends, among other things, on factors such as:
- Age of the person at the time of the traumatic event;
- Belonging to a certain culture and religion;
- Presence of psychological disorders;
- Character traits and family history.
Types of triggers
Triggers are very individual and there are many types. What becomes a trigger for one may go unnoticed for another. In this case, literally anything can become a trigger. Trigger types:
- Specific time: time of day, year, anniversary of injury or loss of a loved one;
- Location where the traumatic event occurred;
- Sensory stimuli: loud noises or screaming, taste of food eaten shortly before the incident, smell, physical sensations associated with trauma;
- Harassment or unwanted touching;
- Reading or viewing something that brings to mind the traumatic event: violence in movies, news photos and videos;
- Situations: crowded place, person running;
- Words - for example, those that a person heard from abusive parents;
- A situation where a person is laughed at, rejected or ignored;
- Emotions: stress, anger, loneliness;
- Pain;
- Quarrel.
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Recognize the triggers and take control of the situation
Encountering a trigger leads to the fact that a person ceases to be present in the moment and control the situation: the trigger makes him act automatically, obey an involuntary impulse and behave in a certain way.
The first step in regaining control of what is happening is to try to take a small pause between the impulse arising from the trigger event and your reaction; recognize the impulse, make a choice how to behave, and only then act. Marshall Goldsmith in his book Triggers describes this as moving from a Trigger → Reaction scheme to a Trigger → Impulse, Awareness, Choice → Behavior scheme.
- Become aware of your response to stress and how your body (hyperventilation, palpitations?) and brain (anxiety? loss of tongue? rage attack?) respond to a trigger.
- Try to calm the body with deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation.
- Try to identify the trigger and pattern, the template of your reactions: what exactly caused such a reaction and why.
- Realize that the situation is actually safe: the trigger itself is harmless and nothing threatens the person at the moment.
Neutralize the influence of triggers
Learning how your triggers work allows you to predict situations in which you can encounter triggers again. So, you can develop a strategy for your behavior.
In some cases it makes sense to avoid triggers: Combatants with PTSD should not watch violent war films; recovering from alcohol and drug addiction - not to attend parties of friends who are prone to excessive drinking; anorexics - do not look at photos of thin celebrities.
What are some ways to get rid of triggers?
— First of all, you should seek qualified psychological help: a psychologist will help you work with triggers;
— It is necessary to increase the ability to stay in the moment, not to give in to an impulse, to be aware of what is happening: deep breathing, sports, journaling, mindfulness meditation will help here;
- It is worth having a circle of support - an environment of people who understand you, support you and take care of your feelings.
Trigger in psychology. How to get rid of triggers?
Trauma seriously affects the life of the person with whom it happened, and the lives of his loved ones and those around him. Therefore, it is important to figure out what to do in such cases, and how to cope with the triggers (factors) that remind of it and provoke a worsening of the condition.
Trauma is often confused with frustration. If in childhood, every time you went to the store, mom or dad did not buy you a kinder, and all the children around constantly showed off their chocolate egg toys, then this is not a trauma. This is frustration.
Trauma and frustration: similarities and differences
In the case of kinder, as with any other frustrating event, the desire or need that stands on edge at a given moment in time is not satisfied. Usually due to lack of capacity or resources. This gives rise to unpleasant feelings in the form of disappointment, sadness, resentment, but it is also an incentive to find new ways to achieve what you want. It is largely due to frustration that we have technological progress, a huge amount of resources and such a comfortable and safe life that we have never had before in the entire history of mankind.
Trauma, on the other hand, is of a completely different nature. A traumatic event is a threat to a person's physical and/or emotional well-being.
Types of traumatic events
- death, loss of a loved one
- all forms of violence (physical, emotional, sexual)
- complete or partial incapacity
- experiencing many natural disasters, catastrophes or other attacks participation in military operations
- .
Trauma, as a rule, is characterized by an internal experience on the verge of life and death. This is what divides life into “before” and “after”. It is trauma that is the starting point where anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, and psychosomatic illnesses arise. A traumatic event can appear as a one-time, spontaneous episode, or it can be repeated systematically. It is not at all necessary to become a direct participant in the incident. If you simply witness, for example, a serious accident, the death of a person, a robbery or other shock, then this can damage your mental state.
This damage often manifests as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder
PTSD is one of the most common consequences of trauma.
This is a rather complex symptom complex, which, according to ICD-11, has the following characteristics:
- avoidance of places, situations, thoughts and memories associated with a traumatic event;
- multiple re-experiencing of trauma in the form of flashbacks, nightmares, hallucinations, vivid haunting memories;
- excessive alertness, frequent reactions in the form of fright, a sense of imminent or imminent threat.
Often, traumatic experiences provoke changes in a person's personality.
A traumatized person may experience difficulties in regulating his emotions, lose the ability to make new contacts and maintain existing ones, lose a sense of his own value, need and significance. If these symptoms occur together with those listed in the characteristics above, then such a disorder is defined as complex PTSD.
Not every person who experiences horror in his life gets psychological trauma, let alone the consequences in the form of PTSD.
The human species has extraordinary psychological stability (resilience) and is able to self-repair after the most difficult life events.
A soldier who has buried his beloved comrade in the trenches can joyfully raise his glass to the chimes, and a minute later, during the festive fireworks, see the cold face of a colleague before his eyes. In this case, loud salvos are the trigger, as they are associated with military action. In addition to pictures and images, flashbacks can manifest themselves in the form of auditory hallucinations, accompanied by increased sweating and palpitations, a feeling of fear, panic, and horror. A person in such a state may begin to rush about, scream, or, on the contrary, freeze in a stupor.
How to get rid of triggers?
Activation of flashbacks, nightmares, severe emotional experiences, excessive reactions that do not correspond to the real situation is caused by trigger . It brings the person back to the memories associated with the trauma.
These memories do not have any chronology and sequence. They can flare up in the mind in a chaotic manner, giving rise to pain (in the truest sense of the word) familiar and terrifying emotions and experiences. A trigger is a cell that holds a person firmly in the past.
It is almost impossible to get rid of triggers on your own. Therefore, people who have experienced trauma try to avoid them. There can be countless examples of a trigger, since anything can be a mechanism that starts a chain reaction. Some people are terrified of the subway after the attack, others hide their faces from the rain, because splashes of water subconsciously remind them of sexual abuse experienced in childhood. The connection between the trigger and the trauma may not be realized at all by the victim himself and be very distant. It can be both part of the traumatic experience itself, and reflect a symbol, action, event immediately preceding the trauma.
A trigger in psychology is a common phenomenon, which, along with PTSD, is successfully dealt with by specialists within the framework of several psychotherapeutic methods.
Which therapies are more successful in dealing with trauma?
Currently, there are 4 directions that have proven to be the most effective in overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder and reducing trigger response. Namely:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Processing (EMDR)
- Acceptance and Responsibility Therapy (TPO).
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Dealing with the consequences of trauma
In addition to the need for psychotherapy, there are a number of extremely important factors that help to level the consequences of trauma or significantly reduce their degree of influence. Oddly enough, these are quite simple, but vital things in the life of every person:
-
Emotional support for loved ones
Family, friends, relatives and even pets help reduce stress.
-
Moderate exercise
Walking, running, swimming, dancing or any other activity you enjoy.
-
Work
When life seems incredibly empty and meaningless, responsibility serves as the very crutch that does not collapse, and the focus on activity helps to shift attention from internal experiences to the external process.
-
Daily routine
The routine helps to make life orderly, which means more stable, predictable, and a sense of security is formed.
-
Formation of positive habits
Coping strategies that help you cope with your fears and avoid stressful situations (reading a book instead of watching a TV series for 12 hours, walking in the forest instead of eating fatty foods and sweets, etc.).
Living through the consequences of trauma depends on past experience, the presence or absence of traumatization in it, and on the psychological stability of a person, and on the readiness to face his fear, go through it and let go.
