Triggers: How to Stop Being Triggered: PTSD and Trauma Recovery #1 

Great explanation! Thanks for that great work!

To all my PTSD brothers and sisters Healing is painful but not impossible♥️ you can do this

What's so interesting to me is, after experiencing trauma, I was told to 'just try to forget it' and 'learn what your triggers are so that you can avoid them.' But I don't want to allow the event that traumatized me to control my life. I want that power back. I don't want to avoid my triggers, I want to overcome them. Especially when I start ruminating and just obsessively thinking about what happened in a loop.... I don't want to feel fear and panic when I remember it, I just want to understand it and take back the power that was stolen from me. This is the only time I have heard anyone speak out and say we have to (slowly) work through and face the trauma, not avoid it. Avoidance continues the cycle of control over my life that the traumatic event has. I am sick of it. I don't want to live in fear, and I'm ready to take back my power. It's my life, my experience, and I will choose how it affects me... that's what I want. ❤️ Thank you.

I've been treated for anxiety the same way so when I developed PTSD I thought I could overcome my triggers like that too but it got worse. I knowingly faced my triggers again and again and my flashbacks became so intense they lingered for days and while I was in them I could just cry and shake, I couldn't even speak or close my eyes or move. Sometimes taking a step back is the right thing to do. Not everytime and not forever of course. But maybe start working on your triggers after you worked out your trauma a little in a safe environment.

you don’t even know how much this video has helped me. i just experienced an intense trigger and it made me realize that i’m so tired of avoiding my triggers and living in fear and anxiety. But i didn’t know how i could possible get rid of them and i felt scared that i would have to live with this alone my whole life. But i found this video and it has changed so much for me. Now i finally know how to face my triggers and get rid of them. I can’t thank you enough! ❤️

Where was this video my whole life. You saved me money from buying book after book after book all in a few min lol

My whole life has been a trauma. I’m 45 now and wasn’t diagnosed till 11 years ago. The meds are horrible! Re wire the brain.. sounds too good to be true. Anxiety is bad, but that’s not even the worse. God Bless all PTSD Sufferers. ❤️

I love how you slow things down and explain them in a calm measured way!

I've experienced extreme trauma since I was a child and get easily triggered, especially by people's anger directed at me, including death stares! I even get triggered when I make a minor mistake; however, I'm much better with the latter one than I used to be. 😥

She knows very little about PTSD, maybe what was understood about 25 years ago not today. If anyone is struggling stay away from her. I have suffered with it for most of my life, and recently I found this study and it has helped immensely. The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. by Bessel van der Kolk. If you listen to her it won't work, she'll convince you that it is you, and then you'll be more depressed.

CPTSD is the result of an emotional brain injury from childhood rejection, abuse or even a long term traumatic relationship. The problem with CPTSD is that often cognitive help is not enough, there has to be lots of different types of help given. You cant always logically think through every problem. I mention this as many sites only mention PTSD which is very different to Complex post traumatic stress disorder. The flashbacks are emotional flashbacks not particularly attached to a single event as in PTSD, but trauma over a long period of time. With me for example the first three years of my life with rejection and mistreatment from a mother with schizophrenia, and later a 22 year marriage to a very damaged child abuse survivor which dismantled me piece by piece because of the emotional intensity of it all. Hence, Complex. I think therapy in a nutshell (of which I have subscribed) has some great videos, and very helpful, so I'm not criticising anything, just spreading awareness of CPTSD.

Losses from childhood abuse unhealthy relationship attachments thru out life how does a person heal from the trauma of unhealthy attachments due to childhood abuse

I keep coming across your videos. I feel like you're going to help save my life. Thank you. My ex committed suicide in my closet last year and oddly enough I have had a harder past 6 months than the first 6 months. Harder being a severe understatement. You are amazing; thank you so much for all you do.

this could be damaging to some people. i am close with someone who has severe flashbacks that send them into a deep panic mode, where they totally dissociate and think that there are people in their house trying to attack and sexually assault them. i am pretty freaking sure that going toward that type of trigger is the answer to getting rid of it. they are in intensive therapy & incorporating all kinds of techniques to cope with the effects of these flashbacks and traumas so that one day they will be able to live in peace. suggesting they go near people who want to assault them, or suggesting they visit those experiences in their head, or watch movies or hear stories about being attacked, in order to desensitize them, would be hugely re-traumatizing. this is totally against the advice any trauma therapist would give. this video needs way, way more nuance, or it could lead someone to completely overload their nervous system.

The problem is that once I’m triggered that feeling will stay there forever.. it doesn’t stop until I “avoid” it.

I know I'm over a year late, but I suffered trauma from a non-severe car accident just a year ago. So when ever we have to drive across that three-way turn while coming home from my gymnastics, my anxiety triggers and I fear that a car is going to turn out in front of us while we're going like what happened in the accident. Not only that, but I get butterflies in my stomach and i tense/freeze up for a minute. My anxiety also triggers when a car pulls into into the lane to the left of us. It looks like it's going to collide and always makes me nervous. This video helped me so much. I can't thank you enough. ❤️

1:37 Omg that is so cute😍 made me stop judging my brain and myself so hard and instead love it because it’s doing what it knows best through repetitive behaviors. And I can change it ♥️

Wow, this was great. Someone else mentioned in the comments how they had never heard the subject being explained that way before. Well me either and just this has helped a lot for me to look at triggers differently. Thank you for this and looking forward to watching more vides and getting more insight. 😊

This only applies to certain scenerios. If the trigger is a person avoidance is key.

Trauma has been apart of my life for a very long time, and this helped me. Thank you

I will share my story of 'PTSD through trauma' as it is a little different and may help others. If only to recognise these issues that I think many people have. Firstly, let me thank you so much for making these videos - they are very helpful. Big thumbs up. My story, sorry if it is long but it's important to explain my situation. I have been diagnosed with PTSD through religious trauma. Many decades ago my church thought it was a good idea to scare young children with the 'living fear of hell'. Their idea was if you scare the children enough they will never leave that 'faith'. They did this with repeated very graphical images and sounds of screaming while being told horror stories of hell. Sometimes they would bring out 'that small bottle' which was the worst for an under 5 year old child I can tell you. It contained sulphur and they would make you smell it while holding hot water bottles on your arms. All this with the screaming sounds, graphical images and hideous stories of constant burning. It sort of worked, I remained a Christian for many decades but could never shake this trauma which left me with the worst nightmares each night. Waking in a cold sweat screaming out to wake the whole house. It lasted for decades and was no fun. Eventually, to better know this god I research. Actual real research and not from apologetics websites. This also took me to therapy which I still have to do to this day to manage my PTSD. I think because the trauma happened at such a young age and for so long it was reinforced through many decades of time so it is different to move away from. Previously, to actual real and helpful therapy my church would try to cast out demons which of course is nonsense but I did not know this at the time. Bell, book and candle is no substitute for real therapy! My research allowed me to realise the false nature of the alleged supernatural world so I became a non believer. I had no choice as a person needs to first be convinced of a claim before they can believe. Finding out the truth, I had no good reasons to remain convinced of the nonsense that filled the head of an under five year old child. I find it interesting that at last religious trauma has finally been recognised and people can receive help for this. My hope is that childhood indoctrination before the age of critical thinking is banned just as smoking in a car with young children is banned now here in the UK. The problem is the world's religions rely too much on this indoctrination method of children and there is too much money (like the tobacco industry) to effect a change. Plus many of the adults are the ones making these decisions and they are effected themselves by their own indoctrination. I urge anyone with such beliefs to think back to when they first heard about their particular deity. Who was it from and when did they learn about it? With what evidence other than, 'of course there is a god' now shut up and eat your lunch. If anyone reading this has 'just always' know about their god, chances are they too were indoctrination by their families and slightly worse, their families didn't even know they were doing it as it was done to them. My hope is better education will eventually stop this geographically based religions (Hindus in Nepal, Christians in the USA bible belt, Muslim in Iraq etc) and people will stop filling the heads of young children with 'their' beliefs if whatever the claims cannot be substantiated. Let them get to 18 years of age and then tell them about all the worlds religions together. They will have their own critical thinking skills to determine the truth. If it is true then it will be shown to be true at the age of 18. Personally I wished I were born in these times as I feel we are slowly coming out of the dark ages. 60-70 years ago people did not understand the importance of therapy and that we all have mental health needs. I honestly hope this story helps someone else. Once again thank you so much for your content "Therapy in a Nutshell" you are just amazing. Excellent channel. Very best to all - stay safe and well.

This is counter to treatment protocols for Complex PTSD aka Childhood Trauma where facing triggers and reliving childhood trauma actually retraumatizes the brain, making the symptoms worse.

Thank you so much this information is life changing to those of us who don’t have help 💓

But how do you sit through it when it’s scary as hell and you feel like you’re losing your mind?

Thank you so much. I had no idea how to explain what I feel when I'm scared but you explained it so easily Thank you Thank you. Omg I'm crying 😢 thanks

What should we do if a loved one is experiencing a trigger? Is there anything we can do to make it easier for them?

That is not always the case. I've done the work and still triggered by loud noises and shouting arguing. Something make us SICK CUZ IT'S SIMPLY DAMAGING TO THE MIND! EVERY1 HAS A DIFF TRESHOLD!

Clear explanation. I can see this work in normal anxiety-related issues. But Ptsd? You mean sending a veteran back to the war field so he learns it is safe there? Be happy that his mate got shot and he not? Of course, I don't think that you mean this but I do find it a bit confusing to use confrontation techniques with PTSD.

Thank you, sincerely thank you for all you do. You are able to explain so much in understandable terms and with such warmth and passion for your craft, it is a joy to learn from you. Super helpful in moving forward. 🙏

Thank you for helping me understand

Grateful I ever discovered your videos..you are so helpful!!! 💕

Thanks, I really needed something like this.

I know a guy who is a paraplegic due to an IED. He is convinced he will never get over his PTSD. EVER. He deals with it the best he can, he says.

I commend your passion to share useful and practical knowledge to help someone in need. Thank you so much and be blessed!

Hi Dr. Emma. I've gotten so much out of your videos, and your counsel and information has helped me through some of the hardest times of my life. I just wanted to thank you for making this life saving information so accessible and easy to understand. You've made my life immeasurably better and I can't thank you enough ❤

I am using a notebook taking notes about this series. I am seeing a therapist now but your content is really AMAZING.

Thank you for providing great content for PTSD and Anxiety. I subscribed several month ago. It has been 10 yrs. since my 48 yr old husband's unexpected death. The circumstances surrounding his death caused severe trauma = PTSD. I appreciate your providing content about avoidance. In a nutshell, all pun intended, I am a trained therapist who understands how to work with with the conscious and sub-conscious mind, grounding techniques, etc. however, I still am unable to overcome my PTSD triggers. In fact they have accelerated to the point of a Panic attack and within seconds I am unable to get air into my lungs. I cannot breath so I am unable to use a breathing technique to ground myself. My most recent episode was during an MRI. I have had several MRI's however this time being constrained triggered a full blown panic attack. I had to stop the MRI and reschedule. Avoidance is possibly the culprit however even though I recognize that, I am am being caught off-guard ie. several MRI's and suddenly I am unable to go through the process. I moved to an extremely small town 5 years ago. Getting in to see a Therapist is a 4 hr drive. Do you have a course that may help? Thank you in advance for any and all help.

Thank you always so helpful and I enjoy listening and watching your videos.😌🙏🏻😌

I’m so happy I found this today. Oh my god did I need this today. Thank you for making this you lovely soul 💖

Well i did that alot.. i kept overhearing my anxiety and did things anyway and it didn’t go away, it got worse and worse. To the point where a trip outside to my postmail was a trigger.. i’m told that i have overexposed.. and need to learn not to overexpose and don’t do things that gives me anxiety.. so apparently it is a very fine line between exposion and overexposion..

Clearly has never had an episode...lol, bless your heart.

My situation is crazy, so i was very dedicated in school, i went to boarding school to focus more but i quickly felt alone and stress started, then i couldnt focus then i ended up not doing very well. So now everytime i try to study or read a paper or documents, my body remembers the stress in school and i cant get myself to read, or even process words im looking at, 13 yrs after the initial happening. I have to work now so this is really affection my job and i might get fired 😢.

I’m so greatful for your videos. You have been such a blessing to my life! I do wish you were my counselor. Julia

I want to thank you for this video. What you saying is that healing can also happen outside therapy . Thanks for that

I cried listen to this

You are extremely insightful and uplifting. I feel like I see you introducing holistic methods such as energy healing &/or tapping into your practice.🙏

Your videos have helped me a lot. Thank you❤

I just saw a Guy who shot himself with a shotgun and his head popped... I’m really scared because i always see the video on my mind. It made my anxiety went up and I’m really scared :(

I am trying to help myself and my uncle

The best way to overcome fear is to face it.You can decide pace.It is better to face your fears gradually but anyway face it.Reward yourself with something you really love immediately after facing your fear.

I CANT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR MAKING THIS VIDEO

Excellent stuff thanks 😊

Thanks for this. Very useful and helpful.

I feel like a rattle snake every single day, and no one is listening to my rattle, so I have to strike anything and everything that comes near me!

Thank you! This video helped me! All the best

Wow, so many good points here! Great explanation and breakdown!

I’m crying. I don’t want to hurt myself.

I've been watching your videos and just want to say thank you. I feel like I understand so much more and have a direction to work in to get out of this cycle. I could write so much more but really just wow thank you for making videos💞🌷🌹✨💐🌻

Hi! I had an accident while driving truck. I didn’t know what happened. My truck went straight to the curve. I drove before my accident alone for 7 months. But that accident changed everything. After that accident I felt my car and truck are going like the same way on curves. I tried so many times in trucking job after that but i failed. I felt afraid. I don’t know what happened to me and how I will get out from this. Bcoz now I am doing odd jobs and wanna go to trucking again. It’s now one year and I m still not able to drive trucks. Please help me.

This is great for me,I moved away from an very abusive ex-husband for 34 years,I arrived and there were work men still working,it's a new build,it's the same work as my ex-husband,the noise from machinery,smells of tarmac,all sorts of things but I was so happy to have moved,and I knew they wouldn't be there forever,3 months they are still here and one of them started to become annoying keep ringing my buzzer and asking things, telling me about his sex life it was like listening to my ex husband,my muscles were tightening as I was talking to him,he even called me lairy exactly what I used to get called then two days later police rang my buzzer it's what I was supposed to be not having to deal with, although the police was for a neighbor,I froze immediately,then done the usual took flight and ran off,not a good idea when in a strange place,never doing it again but need to learn how to cope with triggers and flashbacks

I realise that you cant possibly help everyone here, but my request is concerning actal - not imagined - danger, that I regularly face, over the last year. I'm chronically ill such that I can barely do any simple thing, so for example, severe fatigue and pain make it impossible to take up any enjoyable hobbies that I used to engage in like playing music and teaching it, painting, writing, gardening, reading etc. I habe suffered ptsd from childhood, teenage, and as an adult due to ongoing trauma circumstances, so doing what I enjoyed really helped, along with continually addressing my mental health. I have been going through yet another traumatizing situaltiom currently due to neighbours wanting my house. They, their friends and family have done all sorts of things in the day and at night to scare me. I now know that this had gone on for years, but I just passes it off amd told myself I was being silly, but then they unmasked themselves last summer. They do things such that you cant prove it, like a loud crash in the garden in the middle of the night. I had considered cctv, but I think it would make them worse, and having any evidence against them in the house - from what I've gathered from other people - could put me in danger. I was in a very stressful situation some years ago when I was being threatened over a period of time. I went for counselling at that time; I was looking to find techniques to fins out how people like the police or soldiers deal with actual threats, but I'm afraid I was very badly advised. I askes the counsellor how she dealt with it (as she was regularly threatened in her previous job), and she said that her and her colleagues went out and got drunk! So currently I face ongoing severe bullying. I told the authorities and they logged it, but there was little they could do, and being that so many are involved, the immediate neighbours would just get someone else to do the intimidation. I cannot move due to the property being adopted for me. I cannot even run away from actual danger due to my disability I thought that I knew fear, but last year it was taken to a new level. I have searched for help on how to quell such fearful and the real, tangible, occurrences that bring about the response (not imagined or catastrophising), but to no avail. They were trying to break through into next door's loft last year, but all I am told is that they actually have to break in before any help will be given, but it will be too late by then. The perpetrators were thwarted in the end due to other issues, but when people in my row take holidays again next year, no doubt they will start trying again. So, in a nutshell then, when facing actual threats, what psychological techniques could I use to calm my extreme reaction? I will need to have my wits about me, not lose myself in fear? These people have no fear in being sent to prison; they would enjoy that they've remarked to others. They're violent already petty criminals who coordinate with others similar to themselves. They have any number of people prepared to give them an alibi, including family members; they've done so before. I hope someone can suggest something for me!

Just today I think I experienced my first trigger ever, and I say I think because I have never been diagnosed with ptsd or anxiety or anything of that sort and the last thing I want is to disrispect or ofend someone that actually has those problems by assuming that I have them too. So I was in school (Im in the last semester of highschool) and a classmate made a "mean" comment (I know that she didn't mean to make me feel so bad, she apologized to me afterwards), my enmediate feeling was anger, but some minutes later I started to cry a little bit, then I started having troubles breathing; at that point my math teacher had realized that something was going on, he asked me if I was ok, I said that I was and inmediately went to the restroom, there, I started to cry with such feelings of fear and anxiety that I hadn't felt in years. I don't say it a lot but I was bullied a good part of my life, I felt exactly the same that when I was a kid and most of my classmates were assholes to me tbh, and made me feel like shit. It was horrible, I meditate a lot and not even with mindfullnes and breathing techniques managed to stop those feelings.

Easier said than done triggers are so overwhelming signaling danger so it feels real this is what im dealing with ptsd especially with a family member whos mentaly abusive to me so i avoid them which isnt a bad thing in my eyes lol

I got this from living with my mother in law for 5 years 😡😡😡 I’m not my self anymore I got really bad anxiety

This was awesome 👏🏾 ❤ the right to it information thank you 🙏🏾

Excellent video.

My father had a heart attack 10 years ago when I was 16. The day before the attack he burped continuously which imitated acid reflux. He did have a surgical procedure and recovered . However since then I have struggled with extreme fear of losing him. Whenever I heard him burp all these years I started to have a major anxiety/panic attack. There were many nights I barely slept imagining any time I could lose him.Any minor inconvenience to his health, my mind gets triggered and I suffer from extreme fear. His health has been deteriorating as he is older now and my anxiety episodes are getting worse and more frequent. I have developed major triggers whenever he burps, yawns or even coughs. As I live with him there is no chance I could avoid these sounds. I am really tired of this suffering. Somebody please help🙏🏻

Oops, I was halfway through a bong hit when you said I could be using drugs as a distraction… uhhhh I think you’re right but at least I’m watching this video right? Last week I couldn’t even remember a big portion of my trauma and now I’ve processed a lot of that and have accepted I have PTSD. Rn I’m going to learn the skills for change while I still smoke and then put the change into action. I will say since dealing with that traumatic experience I’ve had a natural decrease in the cravings to smoke. Like I’m not high all the time and I’m totally okay with that when before I would never be sober from the second I woke up to when I went to sleep so I’m a way I am doing a bit better. Hopefully I come back to this comment and have healed even more

I’ve often worked through the triggers I’ve had, the more manageable ones anyway, and one of them I finally no longer feel bothered by, yay! Only took me several years haha… but today I realized I had another trigger but it was much more intense than I expected.. my body got hot and I felt sick and extremely anxious, as if I was right back in that moment from 2011/2012 ! I was able to rationalize it , telling myself that I’m not in that time anymore and I shouldn’t have to feel that way, but even though my brain knew I was safe my body felt different. And I wanted to have a total breakdown because I thought I had overcome that nightmare but feeling those negative feelings made me think that all those years of healing were not enough. But I know that isn’t the case… so that’s why it’s 5 in the morning and I’m going through YT videos on being triggered haha… I know I can reassure myself and talk about why I feel the way I do instead of avoiding the trigger because I refuse to let it control my life. I’m capable of grounding myself and getting through it to the understanding that I need.

i'm so tired. been fighting with my PTSD 100% of my day, every day. i'm tired. can hardly stand up.

Thank you that really helped 🙏

I have PTSD and I HATE it it won't go away.

My trigger is scarves. I have been avoiding them for a while now and when I see one in a shopping isle (it doesn’t even have to be close) I start to shake and breathing get really hard. How do I face it without blacking out again.

Exposure therapy is great

Beautiful thank you.

I don’t know how this would help with violence triggers. I was abused for year by my 1st husband extremely violently. How is there a safe way to experience those violence triggers…

You are great!! Thank you for what you do! :)

Great stuff !

Can't find your udemy courses. Would be great if you could link them too

Just listening to this throws me into bad anxiety. I have severe anxiety, severe cptsd... complicated grief reaction, adjustment disorder.. a whole alphabet soup of not doing well in my life... I don't know how to get out. I have no external support.. I have talk therapied past my former therapist and need to find a new one but the thought of bringing all that to someone new.. I was told I could just start my story now and leave the past behind but I'm an emotional wreck and easily lose my composure I don't know what or how to proceed. I suffer from a multitude of traumatic grief and loss but no sexual events. Right now I am wiggling and jerking in my chair like a crazy person.

Is there a link to this video?????. I Love This Video. Thank you.

Thank u. ❤

Triggers for me are pot smoke, not being believed, and being ignored. I can't avoid being ignored, but I absolutely get away from pot smokers, and any kind of judgement /interrogation situation. I saw a difficult border crossing scene in a movie the other day, and was very triggered, even though it's just a movie and it can't hurt me. That show Border Patrol, that's a total no go for me! Then there's songs of course. I hate it when one plays in a store where I'm shopping. You're a captive audience then.

Thanks for helping me so much. i was traumatized at a disturbing video nad i needed help. wont share the video because i dont wanna scare others. hope you reply

Thanks

gotta be essential to master brain health. no sugar diet , neuro suppliments , amino acids , creatine, adrenal detox. do your research on diet and supplements for ptsd .

Good job. I put this into practice and it worked. But my wife is an ass and just relentless so I noped out of your advice and raged back into the typical anger-argument cycle. Will try again.

Very helpful.

Thank you.

So clear explanation! Thank you ❤️

I can’t sit with my fear. Because my fear, was a medical professional who had locked my arms up, whilst I was paralysed from the waist down. Talking about traumatising things related to hitler experiments, talking about trauma of the skin.. whilst hacking my stomach. And talking about mothers being killed to sell their babies to monsters. How do I dig out of that trauma? Thanks.

What do you do if you are so exhausted coping with daily triggers. When showing empathy to others, trying not to show you are struggling and have no strength to do anything from fatigue after talking to them. Trying to survive Fibromyalgia, CPTSD and ADHD, helping others while looking for work you can do but your body just keeps shutting down and you cry after talking to others.

I was raped by my father. My mother had schizophrenia. I was taken from my parents and lived in 12 foster homes, abused in those. Entered a physically abusive relationship with an ex monk, and tried to use weed to numb it but I stopped smoking bc of dependency and it's all coming back.

Could you please tell us about Somatic Therapy ?

Wow thank you so much!

Thanks for sharing!

I cant go to the trigger ...i have to go to class but its a torture

For ages I beat myself up for being 'anti-social' or overreacting to others/crowds etc - I'm a CSA survivor took me years (I'm 53 now) to heal and to be more sympathetic to my inner child and the reactions from abuse. why did I overreact to people driving too close to me, why people too close in queues or crowds, men approaching me from behind, people too close, etc - empathy can lead you to successful reparenting, leading to wholeness

When I see butality (e.g. someone talking about it or in movies) I start to cry and shiver. Like, I litteraly cry, and I really don't know how to sit through that, it's really traumatizing. Does anyone have similar reactions and knows how to overcome it?

THANK YOU! 🧠