mastering your triggers: reclaiming control after trauma

Master Your Triggers Reclaiming Control

After Trauma

OneHealth Webinar

October 28, 2014

What are triggers?

Trauma survivors are often taken by surprise by sudden, intense fear responses in everyday life

•  Can feel like a panic attack or heart attack •  Makes people feel out of control

•  Sudden startle response is a PTSD symptom

•  Begin to avoid things that activate this response

•  Keep us from enjoying activities

•  List of what to avoid can get bigger and bigger over time

One of the hardest things for many people who have suffered a trauma is that their

triggers make them feel

�  powerless

�  scared

�  irritable

�  crazy

�  damaged

Main Symptoms of PTSD

�  Alternate between feeling flooded/overwhelmed and numbing

�  Efforts to avoid reminders of the traumatic event

�  Intrusive thoughts and images of the trauma

�  Re-experiencing

Fight or Flight System -Wired for Survival

�  Blood rushes to arms & legs

�  Away from torso (digestion)

�  Stronger and faster to fight or run

In the BODY

Fight or Flight System -Wired for Survival

�  Black & White thinking

�  With me or against me

�  Loss of response flexibility

�  React vs. Respond

In the BRAIN

Fight or Flight System -Wired for Survival

DANGER −>

cortisol + norepinephrine (adrenaline) dumped into bloodstream

�  Body’s Survival System designed for ancient times

�  Shortcuts focus only on essential survival functions

�  Great for fighting sharks or tigers

�  Not so good for when someone cuts you off in traffic

Fight or Flight System -Wired for Survival

When else is the Fight or Flight System not so good?

When you can’t get away – no escape

Two things our bodies do when the threat is inescapable:

Dissociation – leaving in our minds when our bodies can’t go anywhere

Freeze response – more extreme than dissociation

Either way, there’s nobody home to feel what’s happening.

Fight or Flight System –

FREEZE: the system of last resort

�  All of body systems slow way down

�  Pain tolerance goes way up

�  Allows us to die without pain

�  Incompatible with life for any length of time

Trauma Memory vs. Regular Memory

�  Ordinary events from the past feel like they are in the past

�  Trauma memories can feel like they are happening right now, in the present

�  Even long ago events have original emotional heat when we touch on them

�  This is why we try so hard to avoid them!

SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) FIGHT/FLIGHT

�  Where do you feel it when you get scared?

�  Gut

�  Chest/heart

�  Throat tight

�  The nerves are wired along the midline of the body

PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System) How we know we’re SAFE

�  The “Stand Down, Everything’s OK” system

�  Tells us we are safe

�  Body does maintenance functions

�  Digesting food

�  Repairing cells

Our Brain’s Orienting Response (Where do Triggers Come From?)

�  Causes our brains to make note of what was around when the bad thing happened

�  If we see it again, our bodies instantly launch a bigger response – (just like what our immune system does with germs)

�  Meant to create a shortcut – like a reflex – to help survival

�  Later on, we may find ourselves reacting to things that remind us of the trauma as if the danger were happening right now.

Trauma and PTSD

�  Causes our body’s natural danger alert system to become disconnected from the present.

�  Reminders of the event can cause your brain’s orienting response to say “There it is! Danger!”

�  Brain signals to instantly dump adrenaline & cortisol in your bloodstream so you can fight or run (survival instinct)

�  TRIGGERS a Fight-Flight/Freeze response

Getting triggered is:

�   physical, biological, chemical response

�  A reflex / automatic

�  Body is trying to protect you (but using wrong tools)

�  not voluntary

�  not your fault

Can take an hour or more for the adrenaline + cortisol to

fully reabsorb, even if your brain instantly says “Oh – false alarm!”

SOLUTION A: AVOID

�  Most people try this first

�  Works best if trigger is unusual

�  Narrows life and choices

�  Triggers can generalize to broader categories

Even if your trigger is a pink elephant, we all know how it is to just try not to think about it!

AVOIDANCE METHODS: Dissociation/Thought Blocking/Self-Medicating/Numbing

�  Increases dread

�  Lower Self Esteem

�  Narrows life and choices

�  Can lead to addiction

�  Creates more problems: health, legal, relationship

�  Nobody’s “home” to register have a different, better experience

�  Healing cannot happen unless there’s “somebody home” to notice

How?

INFORMATION IS POWER

�  Body’s natural defense system activates – trying to help

�  May be ancient tool for modern situation

�  I can use new tools to cope more effectively

Self-talk pathways REFRAME the situation:

“I’m gonna die” OR

“I can use my new tools to calm myself”

SOLUTION B: Dare to Be Present (Somebody’s Home to Heal)

Use New Tools for Calming

�  Butterfly hug

�  4/4/4 Breathing

 Learning to be Present

�  Mindfulness Practices

�  Yoga, Meditation

Dismantle the Triggers – Rewire the Brain

�  EMDR

www.emdria.org

2014 Dr. Cheryl Arutt, All rights reserved.