Triggers - Emotions & Other Complex Situation Or Is That Not Possible?

[Abstract]

My mind tends to be a little black and white. I have read the "difference between triggers and stressors" a while back and dismissed all except for the obvious as not being triggers. I have had just about zero self awareness in the past and figuring anything out through the dissociative fog is pretty difficult.

But as my self awareness is improving it is seeming to me that it is not that simple. And I am wondering if that might explain some of my bizarre over reactions to some things.

To me a stressor should be something that upsets us (cognitively) and then generates a fight and flight reaction in accordance to how upsetting it is. If something brings on an instant feeling of being almost physically assaulted and one takes two days or longer to calm down (not related to thoughts had) then is that possibly still a stressor or not?

Many of you seem very knowledgeable about these things and I am hoping you can educate me. This is still very new to me and there is a lot I don't understand. I have read a lot but reading only does so much.

So is a trigger always something as obvious as a picture of a gun that was used in ones attack for example or it is more complex than that?

 

[Err0r]

The way I have always understood "trigger" is the way that you described "stressor". A particular situation, picture, movie, scene, smell, sound, etc that causes us to be upset, disassociate, become depressed, etc.
A trigger can be as seemingly insignificant as a smell (I am very sensitive to certain smells) that can cause major impacts in how I feel. For me this can last more than a couple of days.

 

[Meadowsweet]

I don't feel that I fully understand it either. I tend to say trigger when it has taken me by surprise - and it has usually taken until after my reaction to look for what might have sparked off that episode. But I say stressor when I recognise that something has upset me. The stressor still brings up unwanted symptoms, but I have some forewarning and am better equipped to lessen their effect.

So a stressor might be someone telling me off at work - I might be upset, and my anxiety will rise. Then I might experience escalating ptsd symptoms. But when something triggers me, I go straight to the ptsd symptoms or dissociation, and am not always aware that it is happening for a time.

 

[Err0r]

Meadowsweet, I think that's a really great distinction to make. Thank you.

 

[madmax]

And when you hear gun shots going off in your head.......stress-or trigger? If it stands alone is it psychotic?

 

[p-no]

From what I understand, the key difference between the two is the fact that if it is a trigger, it must be directly connected to the trauma itself, causing symptoms like a flashback, whereas a stressor can cause you e.g. to get nervous, a panic attack but the cause of the stress in that situation is not directly connected to your past trauma.

Example:

Imagine you were assaulted with a steel frying pan by a man who lifted it above his head to hit it onto yours, you facing him, i.e. witnessing the assault.

A steel frying pan anywhere can be a trigger. You could go to a restaurant with a good female friend where you can watch while they do the cooking and they may use a steel frying pan. You didn't know they are using steel frying pans so when one of the chefs takes out a frying pan from a shelf somewhere close to the floor and gets back up with it in hand, and you notice it, and it may send you off into a flashback. Then, the steel frying pan could be a stressor. Also, the chef could be the trigger, if he looks a lot like the man who assaulted you, plus has a steel frying pan in hand. Plus, he lifts up the steel frying pan which looks a bit like the movement the man who assaulted you performed. All these triggers (steel frying pan, man with very strong resemblance to perpetrator, movement of the perpetrator) are directly connected to the original trauma, as that involved a STEEL frying pan (not just any frying pan), a MAN with CERTAIN TRAITS/LOOKS, and a PARTICULAR MOVEMENT.

However, if, at another time, you go to the same restaurant and they have meanwhile replaced the steel frying pan for teflon pink-colored frying pans (they exist, I do have one!) and pots, the chefs are all women and nobody takes out any frying pan because they're all already being used, the TEFLON PINK-COLORED FRYING PAN may remind you of the original trauma but it is not a nearly perfect or perfect copy of the one that was used. It is pink instead of steel-colored, it has teflon in it and a pink handle. So, the fact it's still a frying pan may well cause you to feel panicky, overwhelmed, ready for flight, but since it's NOT DIRECTLY RELATED to your past trauma, it is a stressor. Also, the person who does the cooking is a woman, and there is not THAT PARTICULAR MOVEMENT that could trigger you.

I, personally, would never say someone who went through that assault with a steel frying pan could not get triggered by someone with a teflon pink-colored frying pan. This is just an example for illustration. From what I understood Anthony's post on Triggers vs. Stressors, I take it that the direct connection to the original trauma is what determines whether it's a trigger or a stressor, as the reaction to a trigger can be the same as to a stressor.

Having said that, from my own experience, so, it applies to me but may not to anyone else, I would like to say that NOW, triggers and stressors in my case is ALSO definable by the extent. I.e. if I were the one who was attacked with a steel frying pan, I may see an exact copy of the steel frying pan used in the assault and still not get triggered (into a flashback, into a panic attack, into dissociation...), but get stressed for sure (i.e. panic), but it would not be a full-blown panic attack and not a full-blown panic attack. This is, I think from introspection and self-awareness, because I am more "there", in the sense that my mind doesn't suddenly get its blinders on and only sees the steel frying pan, but also notices it's a woman holding it and hears my friend talk to me and smell the smell of the food that is cooked etc. Just saying.

Hope this helps!!! (And hope it's correct!)

 

[Abstract]

Error, thanks. I agree that sight, sound etc that are exactly linked back to a trauma are triggers. And that many situations create am instant flight and fight reaction but are not directly linked to a trauma and are stressors. What I have begun to wonder though is if some emotional situations and less concrete, more convoluted input may link directly back to a trauma and actually be a trigger rather than a stressor.

 

[Err0r]

I think I understand what you're saying. For example, when my husband is stressed out and it has absolutely nothing to do with me and he doesn't take it out on me, I automatically start to panic. I end up thinking that he will decide that I am too much of a hassle and that he will just leave me. It's just the "energy" I get off of him that puts me into a huge panic mode (sometimes includes panic attacks and thoughts about self-harm). And it's not even realistic, really. He won't leave me. Why would he leave me because he's had a bad day at work? What does that even have to do with me? Nothing! It's also not directly related to my trauma, except that same "energy" occurred before my abuse would start.

Is that kind of what you mean with less concrete/more convoluted?? :unsure:

Or did I just ramble incoherently? LOL. Sorry if that is the case. I have a tendency to ramble. :shy:

 

[Abstract]

Oops. I was hit by a wave of exhaustion half way though answering...

I tend to say trigger when it has taken me by surprise - and it has usually taken until after my reaction to look for what might have sparked off that episode. But I say stressor when I recognise that something has upset me. The stressor still brings up unwanted symptoms, but I have some forewarning and am better equipped to lessen their effect.

...I might be upset, and my anxiety will rise. Then I might experience escalating ptsd symptoms. But when something triggers me, I go straight to the ptsd symptoms or dissociation, and am not always aware that it is happening for a time.

Thank you! This says many of the things that I have been starting to wonder.

I am not sure that dismissing these things as stressors has been helping me. If they are triggers then I imagine becoming aware and therefore finding ways to deal with it would be best.

These things are still impossible to put into words really. The one I am suspecting might be an issue is feeling unheard. Normally feeling unheard would be a stressor but sometimes its as if it taps into something much deeper and more visceral. At times that has resulted in intrusive stuff. Other times I am in a total state instantly and take an age before it starts to settle. And yes, Error, these things can take a month sometimes can't they? And when I have this reaction I have often have a reoccurring horrific dream where I am sexually assaulted and am shouting for help and people ignore me, I run away and it happens again and so on. I don't really know if it is just not being heard. It may be a combination of feeling trapped and unheard or any number of other things.

But more often it seems to be something very subtle that I can't quite pin-point - like a tone of voice, or a certain attitude that comes across. It's these things that keep me from getting closer to people, because I fear being triggered.

This is exactly what I mean!

there have been other times when I have been talking to people and somehow the topic of the conversation will remind me of a way in which I was abused.

This seemed a little related too.

 

[Abstract]

And when you hear gun shots going off in your head.......s

Max! I suspect the trigger would be something else and if gunshots are part of your trauma then it would be included at either a partial flashback, an intrusion or a trauma related hallucination. If guns aren't part of your trauma then I think it is a delusion! But look at the poll about hallucinations on here as you would not the the only one!

 

[madmax]

A nine mm. was used and a shot gun got chambered and we were asked if we were ready to die. While being hog tied...The gun shots are sometimes soft puffs type of sound when a silencer is used..when I am awake or in slight sleep or what I would call deep sleep.

These events seem to stand alone...I was not consciously thinking of the events when this happens.

 

[Err0r]

The one I am suspecting might be an issue is feeling unheard. Normally feeling unheard would be a stressor but sometimes its as if it taps into something much deeper and more visceral. At times that has resulted in intrusive stuff.

And when I have this reaction I have often have a reoccurring horrific dream where I am sexually assaulted and am shouting for help and people ignore me, I run away and it happens again and so on. I don't really know if it is just not being heard. It may be a combination of feeling trapped and unheard or any number of other things.

I could've written this. This totally happens to me! I totally understand the connection between not being heard in an every day setting and not being heard when asking for help.

Now I'm more curious about the distinction between "stressors" and "triggers" as well.
Abstract, have you noticed that you become more susceptible to being triggered to certain things at certain times and not others?