TRAUMA
When the Past Feels Like the Present: Understanding Trauma Triggers
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trigger has been popularised online over the past few years, likely to the extent that we now all have slightly different understandings of what it means. For someone who has experienced trauma, however, this word can hold a different kind of weight.Psychologist and author Dr Ingrid Clayton describes trauma triggers as “felt reminders of the past.” This makes sense when we consider how our brain processes experiences during trauma or periods of high stress. Rather than being neatly filed away as something that happened then, traumatic memories can be stored in fragmented ways, where details such as time, place and sequence are less clearly recorded.It can be helpful to think of these memories as blurry snapshots without a clear timestamp.
This can make it difficult for the brain and body to distinguish between something that feels similar to a past threat and something that poses the same danger now. An argument with your boss, for example, might feel similar to an earlier relationship where conflict really did have frightening consequences. You may logically know that these situations are different, but your threat system may not be quite so convinced.When the brain detects possible danger, it tends to prioritise keeping you safe.
For trauma survivors, this can sometimes result in reactions that feel confusing or “out of proportion” to what is happening in the present.
For one person, being triggered might look like an explosive reaction or a sudden need to defend themselves—the fight response.
For another, an ambiguous comment might create an overwhelming urge to leave, withdraw, or avoid someone for days—the flight response.Sometimes, the response is less obvious.
You might find yourself frozen in the moment, unable to think of what to say or do—the proverbial “deer in the headlights.” Or perhaps there is an immediate urge to smooth things over, apologise, make the other person happy, or make sure they still like you.
This is sometimes described as the fawn response. What can easily be missed is that these responses did not develop for no reason.Gabor Maté has described trauma as not simply what happens to us, but what happens inside us as a result of what we experience. When we look at trauma in this way, behaviours that might seem confusing in adulthood can make much more sense when we understand the context in which they developed.
Fawning, for example, is sometimes dismissed as “people-pleasing.” yet for some trauma survivors, carefully monitoring other people's emotions, keeping the peace, or making themselves agreeable may once have helped them stay safe.
Fleeing or avoiding conflict may have reduced the likelihood of punishment. Fighting back may have been how someone protected themselves, their siblings, or expressed a sense of fairness in an environment where they otherwise felt powerless.These aren't simply “bad behaviours” that need to be eliminated.
They are survival strategies that, at one point, may have served an important purpose. The difficulty is that our nervous system can continue using these old survival strategies long after our circumstances have changed. A response that helped protect you then may now leave you feeling exhausted, ashamed, disconnected from others, or confused about why certain situations affect you so strongly.
Making sense of these responses can be an important part of trauma therapy.Rather than asking “What is wrong with me?”, therapy can make space for different questions: “What is my nervous system trying to protect me from?” “Where did I learn that this was dangerous?” or “What did this response once help me survive?”From there, the work isn't about blaming yourself for your reactions or forcing them to disappear. It's about helping your brain and body learn that what kept you safe then may not be what you need to keep you safe now.Over time, trauma therapy can help you recognise your triggers, understand the responses underneath them, find new ways of responding, and begin to feel safer within yourself and the world around you.Sometimes, understanding why you respond the way you do is the first step towards recognising that your responses make sense in the context of what you have lived through—and that you don't always have to rely on them in the same way anymore.
Consider what you need to be the version of yourself you want to be.
Nicole
