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.