On Triggers

[rachelmanija]

This is about triggers in the technical sense, of the "cues" mentioned by the DSM-IV in its criteria for PTSD: "intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event."

I have a much more detailed explanation of triggers here. (Warning: uh, triggery in that it contains

Comments

[marzipan_pig]

Thanks for describing that out.

I'm having a really hard time with some stuff lately and sometimes I just want to be able to freak out WITHOUT evaluating it all and communicating about it blah de blah de blah.

Other times, blah de blah de blah.

[rachelmanija]

I hear you. It can get pretty tiring.

I don't usually bother to communicate it to others, though. ;)

[rosefox]

Thank you for talking about this.

My mother and I once had a brief and extremely weird conversation where we both managed to agree, out loud, that I have all the hallmarks of being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse: expressions of kinky sexuality from a young age, hardly any memories of childhood (like, nothing before I was about 12), violent reactions to being startled or tickled or having anyone hold my wrist or put an arm around my shoulders, constant low-grade fear and distrust of men. But neither of us can figure out how or when it might have happened, or who might have abused me, because I was absolutely a mama's girl and she was the most protective mother ever, and had anyone done anything to me that I didn't want, I would have gone screaming to her, twice as loud if they told me not to tell. (When I was three or four years old, I got her to fire a babysitter because I didn't like the poor girl's long fingernails.) So... it is all a mystery. And I kind of envy you for knowing what memory is being triggered.

[rachelmanija]

Suspecting but not knowing sounds enormously disconcerting. In your situation, I think I'd rather know, too.

That being said... given what I've recently learned about trauma, I can think of a several possible explanations. Want to hear them?

[rosefox]

Absolutely! I have yet to find a conversation triggering, and I don't mind discussing it in public (obvs.).

[rachelmanija]

1. Obvious explanation is obvious (and I'm sure you've already thought of this

[sartorias]

Wow, this is enormously helpful. A lot of this I'd already figured out, but not the specifics. Thanks for posting.

[rachelmanija]

Glad it was helpful!

PS. I am currently procrastinating on stuff by re-reading the Inda series. It's so great! So hard to tear myself away!

[sartorias]

*beam*

That makes me so happy!

BTW are you free Saturday noonish? I have to be up in LA after two.

[rachelmanija]

Yes. Shall we hit Clementine?

[rikibeth]

Thank you - not only for the description, but for clarifying the difference between the colloquial and the technical meanings of the word. The colloquial usage, honestly, is starting to get on my last nerve.

[rachelmanija]

I find it annoying too, but upon reflection, I can't object so long as people are aware that there is also a technical meaning.

When I say, "My waffles burst into flames AGAIN, after I tried so hard to get the recipe right! It was so depressing!" I don't literally mean (and I know I don't literally mean), "I was clinically depressed."

[rachelmanija]

Maybe "OCD trigger?"

[loligo]

Or a lot of undiagnosed sensory integration dysfunction -- but I think that's more an issue with kids. Some kids who seem belligerent and get in lots of shoving matches, etc., are just poorly calibrated when it comes to processing sensory information about touch, so touches that would be inconsequential to most kids come across as intrusive and threatening. But I think a lot of people with that issue do manage to understand it, verbalize it, and work around it as they get older.

[rachelmanija]

Interesting! I hadn't thought of that. And sometimes in autism, too, right?

[loligo]

Yes, it's very common for people with autism have to have trouble with sensory integration.