If you suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), your symptoms may come and go. You could also be effective until you hear a automobile backfire loudly. Suddenly you develop into very afraid. Images out of your time fighting in a war come flooding back.
Certain triggers can trigger your PTSD. They bring back strong memories. You may feel like you might be reliving all of it yet again. Triggers can include sights, sounds, smells, or thoughts that remind you indirectly of the traumatic event.
Some PTSD triggers are obvious, resembling seeing a news report about an assault. Others are less clear. For example, should you were attacked on a sunny day, the sight of a shiny blue sky might upset you. Knowing your triggers will assist you manage your PTSD higher.
When danger threatens, your body prepares to fight, flee, or freeze. Your heart beats faster. Your senses are on high alert. Your brain stops a few of its normal functions to deal with the threat. This also includes your short-term memory.
When you’ve post-traumatic stress disorder, your brain doesn't process the trauma properly. The memory of the event will not be filed away as being up to now. The result: You feel stressed and scared, even when you're protected.
The brain associates details resembling sights or smells with this memory. These develop into triggers. They act like buttons that activate your body's alarm system. When one in every of them is pressed, your brain goes into danger mode. This may cause you to develop into anxious and cause your heart to beat faster. The sights, sounds and feelings of the trauma may resurface. This is known as a flashback.
Anything that reminds you of what happened immediately before or during a trauma is a possible trigger. You are often tied to your senses. You may even see, feel, smell, touch, or taste something that’s causing your symptoms. While the triggers themselves are often harmless, they cause your body to react as should you were at risk.
Plenty of things can trigger your PTSD. The commonest include:
People: Seeing someone related to the trauma can trigger a PTSD response. Or someone has a physical feature that reminds them of this. For example, if someone with a beard mugged you, other bearded men might bring back memories.
Thoughts and emotions: The way you felt during a traumatic event (fear, helplessness, or stress) may cause symptoms.
Things: Seeing an object that reminds you of the trauma could also be a clue to your PTSD symptoms.
Scents: Smells are strongly linked to memories. For example, someone who has survived a hearth is likely to be upset by the smoky smell of a grill.
Puts: Returning to the scene of a trauma is commonly a trigger. Or a particular location, like a dark hallway, could also be enough to impress a response.
TV shows, news reports and movies: The sight of the same trauma often triggers symptoms. This includes scenes from a television show or movie or a news report.
Feelings: Some sensations, resembling pain, are triggers. For assault survivors, touching a particular a part of the body may cause a flashback.
Sounds: Hearing certain sounds, songs, or voices can bring back memories of the trauma. For example, hearing a automobile backfire can remind a veteran of gunshots.
Tastes: The taste of something like alcohol can remind you of a traumatic event.
Situations: You can associate scenarios with the trauma. For example, should you are stuck in an elevator, you could be reminded of the sensation of being trapped after a automobile accident.
Anniversaries: It is commonly difficult to pass though a trauma-filled date without remembering it, as is the case for a lot of survivors of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Words: Reading or hearing certain words may very well be a sign of your PTSD.
Some are obvious. Others are subtle. In fact, you could not realize something is a trigger until you’ve a response. It looks as if your PTSD symptoms come out of the blue. But they are often attributable to an unknown trigger.
Feeling like you might be at risk is an indication that you’ve experienced a PTSD trigger. A therapist can assist you discover your problem. They may also assist you find ways to manage.