Secondary Triggers

[sun seeker]

I don't know whether this term exists but it is the closest that occurred to me and I was wondering if others have experienced this. I can't find anything on it from a cursory google search, but my anxiety is pretty high right now and I'm not absorbing much.

Hypothetical situation: suppose when you were traumatized, the light was at a certain angle combined with a certain song playing on the radio. Now, whenever those two things happen at the same time, you are triggered into a trauma response.

Later, though, while you are triggered by that combination of things, there is also a particular taste in your mouth from a kind of candy you just ate. Because you are triggered at the time, the taste of the candy is now associated with the triggered state. Some time later when you taste that candy, you are triggered just as you were from the original combination (angle of light + song). The candy never triggered you before, nor was it present during the trauma.

The candy produces what I'm going to call a secondary trigger.

Questions: does this already have a name, and if so, what is it?

Anyone have experience with this?

Just today I experienced something like this, for the first time as far as I can recall. The situation in which the primary trigger got connected to the secondary trigger was recent enough that the connection is clear in my mind. I'm not particularly concerned at this point with eliminating the triggers because they do help me understand more about the trauma, which is a recovered memory and for which I don't yet have the full story. I'm just interested in how this works.

 

[deer_in_headlights]

Hi Sun Seeker,

I get this so often - it drives me nuts...
I can't think of a name, as I'm dissociating just a tad remembering yesterday's triggers.:wacky:

You're not imagining this, the brain's connections are so vast, and we link so many senses all at once during searing trauma.

P.S. Dizzily navigating around, I found this wonderful post by Anthony:
https://www.myptsd.com/threads/stressor-vs-trigger-what-is-a-trigger.9903/
If I'm reading this correctly in my whifty state, the word would be "Stressors"(?)

 

[shimmerz]

Yes, no idea what the name of this is but it can be used to one's advantage as well.

Went to a friend's party. Didn't realize smell of sawdust was a trigger. Walked into the 'man cave' and passed out (at the party, which didn't exactly make me the life of the party). Now this friends man cave is a trigger. Has nothing at all to do with the original trauma, BUT got triggered every time I saw his man cave.

Friend comes to party at this guys place another time. He has a bunch of puppies he is attempting to find homes for. Puppies are in the 'man cave'. Guess who lives and dies for puppies? Only way to see the puppies is to go into man cave. Man cave now gives me feelings of puppies crawling all over me, licking my face, gnawing at my fingers.

No longer trigger to smell of sawdust. I think puppies every time I smell sawdust now.

 

[sun seeker]

I can't think of a name, as I'm dissociating just a tad remembering yesterday's triggers.:wacky:

Sorry to hear that. Hope you feel better real soon.

I remember reading about stressors vs. triggers and being confused. My brain is not any clearer today than it was when I tried to take in the information last time unfortunately, but thank you for the reminder and I will try again when I have a moment of clarity!

No longer trigger to smell of sawdust. I think puppies every time I smell sawdust now.

This is brilliant. You've just inspired me to rewrite this part of my story. Hmm. This will take some thinking. Thank you!

 

[Fadeaway]

I would say absolutely. I know for a fact this happens to me. My husband gets very angry at me when I am triggered. My voice changes although I am unaware of it. (he isn't the first to tell me) Well my "triggered voice" grates on his nerves and he yells at me for it. He gets really, really mean when I am triggered. Certain things he says when I am triggered are now becoming triggers themselves.

 

[shimmerz]

Does anyone have a T that they might be able to ask this question of? I would be really interested if there is a name for it.

 

[sun seeker]

I'm picturing a chain, each link further away from the original trauma. Chain-link triggers?

I really like the idea of reversing it though, by introducing something so good at each link that it becomes a stronger association than the trauma reaction. I imagine this would be a lot easier with the links further away from the original though, or when we've already worked on processing enough that the triggers have already lost their grip. Sort of a touch-up, if you will.

Is your experience (anyone who wants to answer) that each link further away from the original doesn't trigger as strong a reaction? That was what I experienced today, but the intensity of my somatic responses waxes and wanes anyway.

 

[sun seeker]

I really like the idea of reversing it though, by introducing something so good at each link that it becomes a stronger association than the trauma reaction.

Reminds me of the patronus spell in Harry Potter.

Yes, no idea what the name of this is but it can be used to one's advantage as well.

One question:

There are some triggered states where I can imagine being able to do this, and others where I can't think of anything that would be strong enough to overwrite the trauma reaction. Is this why it works on secondary triggers (or whatever they're called) and not on primary ones, if that is the case?

 

[NarcSis]

It has also happened to me, I called them secondary associations to a moment of triggering, my T called it generalizing but I don't know if she really understood what I was trying to describe.

I was triggered several times on the phone through conversations and now I'm totally afraid of using the phone - it's completely ridiculous, but each time I go to pick it up I'm taken back to one triggering conversation or another.

 

[shimmerz]

I used to almost drive off the roadway if I saw a truck with a Back Rack frame on it. It triggered me because when the 6 million dollar dick used to leave after terrorizing me in the House of Horrors it was the last thing I would see. I would call that a secondary association. It was tied to being terrorized in the house.

Then I thought about it. I posted here a long time ago about love being the opposite of fear. So to break a trigger I would go for the 'love component' (puppies). In searching for a replacement for the Back Rack anti-fear component, I realized that the Back Rack signified my freedom. He was always pissed that I didn't leave the house first. So actually, seeing the Back Rack (his truck) drive down the driveway and me still being in the house - well - I just had to love that. Made everything else okee-dokee. It took out a whole heck of a lot of triggers in one fell swoop.

 

[sun seeker]

it's completely ridiculous, but each time I go to pick it up I'm taken back to one triggering conversation or another

Not ridiculous at all, just inconvenient for you.

I can relate, I think. There was a terrible triggering phone conversation a few years ago - it's hard even thinking about it - and I didn't develop fear of the phone, but of the spot where I was sitting when it happened. It took a long time for me to feel okay about that part of my house again.

I posted here a long time ago about love being the opposite of fear. So to break a trigger I would go for the 'love component' (puppies).

That's a very good thing to keep in mind. Hmm. Would it work to imagine the puppies, or do they have to be real? Just sorting out how to make this work in practical terms.

In searching for a replacement for the Back Rack anti-fear component, I realized that the Back Rack signified my freedom.

I'm interested in this, and not quite sure I'm making the connection. Would you be able to explain this some more?

There is a technique in art therapy that I tried once with a therapist I no longer see. Not sure what it's called, but the idea is to create two images, one representing a trauma and the other a resource memory. You put them up on the wall and there is a sequence of looking back and forth while tapping your shoulders. I'm simplifying. The idea is that you integrate one with the other so thinking of the trauma becomes less triggering.

 

[shimmerz]

I'm interested in this, and not quite sure I'm making the connection. Would you be able to explain this some more?

It takes a lot of digging. Sometimes it seems like a far stretch. He would come to chase me out of the house. He would rant, he would rage, he would be SOOOOOO upset. And then he would leave. That was victorious. See I used to see the Back Rack as 'him' in the ranting raging presence. I chose instead to see it as him being a bare assed coward who went retreating down the driveway because he couldn't beat a 'woman'. lol. Makes me laugh still.

He got me out by almost killing my kids. I honestly would have stayed in that house until the death of me. Not my kids.