Triggered By A Movie

[Deleted member 12723]

I get triggered by some movies and I am lucky that I live in a house where we watch pg movies. Really light stuff.

I am haunted still when intrusive memories of the movies come into my mind.

I am very cautious about what I watch now.

I wish you the best in your movie watching. I used to be able to watch all kinds of movies, but not anymore.

 

[Candleflames]

I've had this happen several times and have felt so very lame afterwards. You're clearly not alone in this. One time all I could do was sit there and scream while shaking and rocking back and forth.

I always talk it through in therapy after it happens. Sometimes it's helpful to rewatch the scene with my therapist when talking about how I felt when triggered. He's been able to help me through the emotions so when something similar comes up it's not so bad the next time.

 

[ghotiff]

I screen TV and movies by using IMDB.com, and reading the parent advisory section.

 

[macbeth]

Thank you everyone for your support. I guess the thing that bothered me the most was that I do or did have a pretty good idea of which movies were ok for me to watch and which ones weren't. This movie feel into the ok catergory (or so I thought).:( My symptoms have stabilised over the last 6 months as well so I was feeling calm. My reaction to the movie was just very random and unnerving.

 

[ellienad]

I'm so sorry you had to experience that, it's such a terrible feeling when something you thought was "in the ok category" or safe catches you off guard! I can completely relate. I get triggered by tv and movies more than anything else I would say. In fact, I blocked out memories of my trauma, but my first indication that something happened was due my very strong reaction to a specific scene in a tv show. You're not alone!

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

Definitely have had that happen to me. I was watching a favorite show of mine and I was alone. I didn't realize how much it was triggering me at first. I found myself scratching to the point of bleeding and I was also shaking. I (rather dumbly, I might add) did not realize the connection between the show and my anxiety until relating the story to my therapist who immediately picked up on the obvious connection. I haven't watched that show since, but most movies contain something that triggers me even little kids shows and movies that my sons watch. I am glad your husband was supportive.

 

[macbeth]

I found myself scratching to the point of bleeding

I had my therapist point out to me that this was a nervous habit of mine also. I'm glad my husband was supportive too. ;) It's hard isn't it when it's your favourite show or something you think will be ok to watch.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

It's hard isn't it when it's your favourite show or something you think will be ok to watch.

It is hard. I often forget that I don't react to things the way I used to so I watch things I did before and then I realize, oops, I can't handle that anymore. It's like that with a lot of things in life now.

 

[macbeth]

Me too.

 

[Yugogypsy]

I'm reading the book called "Waking the Tiger": Healing Trauma" suggested by my therapist. I get triggered when it comes to any visual mediums (books, movies, shows, pictures, etc) however in the book, it has an exercise of looking at pictures without reading the messages and checking how your body responds.

As always, a trained professionals can help you through those visual triggers. I get triggered even when reading a book after a few sentences and then I drop the book... This book is the slowest book for me to read right now and I'm taking my sweet time to work through it along with the trained professional and people who understands PTSD (my husband knows because he had it).

I'm always in control of the remote control so any trigger, I change the channel.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

I'm reading the book called "Waking the Tiger": Healing Trauma"

I am reading that book right now, too. I do not like to read the examples in the beginning- those are triggers for me.

 

[MissMargarita]

Movies are complicated! For one thing, movies are a favorite past time of mine. However I always have to deal with the anxiety of hoping there will be no violence in them. These days that can be quite the challenge. For that reason I limit myself on what kind of movies I watch a lot. I am constantly triggered by them through as I can't always anticipate whe there will be a triggering scene or that something I did not think would trigger me happens. Wow, I hope everyone was able to follow that. Well anyway.. I love movies but it's hard when I come home from them in tears and shaken up. I have found movie trigger websites that list movies and their trigger warnings classified by the kind of trigger. I use them to help me make better educated choices for movies. I reccomend anyone who is interested to search "movie triggers" and they pop right up!