Stressor vs. Trigger - What Is A Trigger?

[Reclusive]

No, definitely not easy. I guess maybe that's the kind of thing we should have talked about as a family but the three of us left aren't really big talkers (to each other). I wonder how my brother handles it.....

 

[anthony]

Maybe some people need to revisit this threads original starting post, to learn the difference between a trigger and a stressor, from comments around here.

 

[piratelady]

What you posted - in the start of this thread, and what my therapist told me has me really confused. He told me that a trigger is anything that makes your emotions go from a good or OK one to a bad emotion and if you stay triggered and continue having the "bad feelings" that it becomes a mood until something else triggers it to change. I'm thinking what he thinks of a "Trigger" is something completely different than this?

 

[Hashi]

This is just my personal view, but I think labels can be not only confusing but also a distraction and even an obstacle to moving forward.

A label is a shortcut, a quick way of expressing something to ourselves and to others. But as this thread shows, if different people have a different understanding of the same word (whatever the actual definition) then we're not saving any time or making anything clearer by using it. Just the opposite. Often it's better to describe the experience instead.

We have to consider whether it's valuable to use a word that we have to spend so much time and effort pinning down the exact meaning of. If that's important for our own understanding, validation and addressing the issues then it is. Otherwise, I think we're getting sidetracked from what we need to be working on. There's a risk of our focus going on the meaning of the word rather than the meaning of the feeling or experience.

Still my personal view - and others might disagree - I think labelling something can sometimes make us feel more powerless and be more stuck. For example, recently I was in a queue and someone came and stood behind me who was extremely similar to one of my attackers, in appearance and manner. I instantly felt unsafe and in danger of losing control. I wanted to hit him and run away. If my thought about this is "I'm triggered" then I'm starting from a position of powerlessness, at the mercy of symptoms that can be fired off at any time like a gun. I'd rather think of myself as "standing in a queue reacting to someone behind me who's like one of my attackers". That way I'm still in the queue (and in the present) as the main part of my experience, with reactions I need to cope with. I'm more than the symptoms/reactions, and I haven't been taken over by them.

I think this is true of other labels too. If I say "I'm dissociating" then firstly I may not be using the right term, secondly anyone else might have a completely different understanding anyway and thirdly it doesn't give me anything specific to work with. If I say, "it feels like my mind's trying to leave the room" then I know I need to do things to pull my mind back. If I say "it feels like my limbs are floating away and my body's disintegrating" then I know I need to get physically grounded again.

And don't even start me on "flashback"...

 

[Tinyflame]

For me, I just see a label or the word (but more like the identification) of something as a 'trigger' as an explanation of why I can go from good to 'x' (sad, terrified etc). Although I would not use the same term as 'triggered (into a good mood).

Whereas a stressor is a source of stress, may be from a good event but especially a negative one, or my own negative thoughts about it, and constitutes extra pressure put on me, or that exists, to contributing to breaking me down.

 

[wife of]

Yes we quite often see a delay between trigger events and a flashback ocurring here.

For example,whilst watching tv a report of a fatal housefire triggered hubby and he almost gave himself whiplash wirh the involuntary heads up to view it. However we spoke and although visibly shaken he was very much present until about ten minutes later when a full on flashback kicked in.

 

[anthony]

@PirateLady

But something triggered that emotion, yes? We don't just feel something without something stimulating that emotion. It could be a memory of something that triggered a reaction, thus you get an emotion from something you felt through one of your senses.

If you had a memory that you could literally see in your mind, then one could say that sight was the sense. If you felt it, then touch... even purely emotional. Our brain is what records and controls our senses. A physical sense can be technically overridden directly via our brain, though it is still interpreting a bodily sense to trigger the emotion.

Some people like to call everything a trigger. Some people love to call everything a stressor. They are two different things though if you look at them, because otherwise stress would not exist if you suddenly call each and every event a trigger, when all you have is a stressor that hasn't actually caused anything yet, but with the addition of more stressors may cause an event, which wasn't precipitated by any one event, but instead you feel angry due to suddenly feeling overwhelmed.

You could simply watch something that reminds you of a bad event (trigger) that then causes you to feel something (emotion) which could then produce a reaction (symptom).

You could combine trigger, emotion and symptom if you want, by your therapists interpretation, and call it a trigger, though IMHO, they each exist alone and do actually have defined definitions, thus I give each term its own due respect for specificity. Read your quote and that is what you're saying is one term (I have added the terms):

He told me that a trigger (event) is anything that makes your (emotion)s go from a good or OK one to a bad emotion and if you stay triggered and continue having the "bad feelings" (emotions) that it becomes a mood (symptom) until something else triggers it to change.

Even when you say mood... you may feel depressed (symptom or mood), or go into flight mode (symptom, but not a mood) or experience a flashback (symptom, but not a mood) or feel anxious (symptom or mood), etc etc.

I honestly find it more confusing by lumping terms into one, when each really has its own meaning and application, yet could have a combined meaning in some instances.

 

[want2cope]

In domestic violence cases, stress is the trigger. Any situation that TRIGGERS the stress "fight or flight" response TRIGGERS a fight or flight response. I think it depends on what your PTSD stems from as to how it is triggered. Honestly, does it really matter when all we really care about is that we are all not alone in suffering caused by someone or something our body or mind or both was mis treated in some way..... Just saying. Hugs, Anthony....

 

[wife of]

It matters so that when people are able to discuss things with thier docs, they can do so using the correct terminology in order to do as much through work as possible.

You wouldn't bake a cake without the correct quantities if flour and sugar,they are both white powders but promote very different reactions in the mix.

So it is with understanding the different roles of stressors,triggers,flashbacks,nightmares,dissociation etc.

 

[Hashi]

You wouldn't bake a cake without the correct quantities if flour and sugar,they are both white powders but promote very different reactions in the mix.

True, and if we're talking about so many cups of each but my doctor means US measures, I mean British measures, and people on the forum are thinking about the cup they drink their coffee from, we could end up with a lot of cake confusion. I just think sometimes it's easier to stay with the basics and talk about how many grams.

 

[wife of]

You could not be more right, that is precisely Anthonys point...setting out the recognised definitions of triggers and stressors as opposed to people using thier own interpretations of the terms.

 

[piratelady]

For example, recently I was in a queue and someone came and stood behind me who was extremely similar to one of my attackers, in appearance and manner. I instantly felt unsafe and in danger of losing control. I wanted to hit him and run away. If my thought about this is "I'm triggered" then I'm starting from a position of powerlessness, at the mercy of symptoms that can be fired off at any time like a gun. I'd rather think of myself as "standing in a queue reacting to someone behind me who's like one of my attackers". That way I'm still in the queue (and in the present) as the main part of my experience, with reactions I need to cope with. I'm more than the symptoms/reactions, and I haven't been taken over by them.

Hashi, I want to share the second half of what my therapist said regarding triggers, I think, you are able to put into action, what my therapist said. He said that if we know what triggers us, and when we are triggered we can use that to react appropriately. He says that when we are triggered, the emotional side of the brain sort of takes over. You go into fight/flight mode.

If we know when we are triggered we can use the thinking/rational side of our brain to stop and assess our situation, and make a calm decision. In your case, you used the rational side to look at that person, realize it is not the same person. You can then begin trying to calm yourself down. Basically, he says, knowing and identifying your triggers gives you power to control them. I think it makes sense, even though I haven't been able to make use of it...