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A car backfiring on a crowded street. The aroma of meat at a backyard barbeque. A child running up to the curb as a car drives by. These sounds, smells, and sights can be very upsetting to some people with PTSD. Why? Because they are triggers.
What is a Trigger?
A trigger is something that provides a reminder of a trauma. Coming across a trigger can make a person with PTSD feel like they are right back in the event---facing the enemy, escaping a burning vehicle, being targeted by a suicide bomber. Army Veteran Andrew Reeves described a trigger he faced while at the mall with his nieces:
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In the mall, a lady was coming towards me in a hurry. And she dove right into her purse. . . . I started moving away and I instantly went reaching for my hip and realized, “Wait. I don’t have a knife or a gun.” And this happened in, like, three seconds. . . . In my head all I was thinking was “Gun, gun, gun, gun. She’s gonna pull a gun on me.”
And all she did was get her cell phone.
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Triggers and Avoidance
Because there are so many things in the world that can be triggers for people with PTSD, they may avoid going out, being with friends, or even thinking about things related to the trauma. This is called avoidance.
In the short term, it may feel like avoidance works. But as Dr. Sonya Norman of the PTSD Consultation Program notes, “Avoidance can feel good because it keeps someone with PTSD away from the triggers that upset them, but over time they avoid more and more things that most people consider safe and their life becomes more and more limited.”
Treatment Helps Build Coping Skills
Cognitive Processing Therapy, EMDR, Prolonged Exposure and other trauma-focused treatments can help people with PTSD stop avoiding. They won’t get rid of triggers, but they build skills to help take triggers more in stride. Andrew Reeves puts it well:
Do I still look for that danger point? Yes. Do I still examine it? Yes. But it doesn’t control me now. . . . I learned this in therapy: to assess the threat and realize the threat’s not there.
Watch Andrew Reeves’ story on AboutFace.
Trauma-Focused Treatment
In Prolonged Exposure---the treatment Reeves received---patients confront memories of the trauma, slowly, safely, and with their therapist’s help. This can make triggers feel less scary when they arise. Find out more about trauma-focused treatment...
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