How often have you heard: "That triggered me" or "That was a trigger for me"? These or similar statements are popping up more and more in EAP counselling, for example when clients are reporting conflicts in important relationships.
Sophia Arnaudov, Consultation Advisor at INSITE, digs deeper into the meaning of the term in this post.
The word "trigger" has found its way from the field of psychology into everyday language as one of the most common terms. Advertising and marketing are also familiar with the use of triggers to bring about a desired action. In everyday language, the term now has now acquired a negative connotation as well. It is sometimes used as a synonym for "that upsets me", "that makes me hit the roof". It is also used confrontationally in arguments, e.g. in the sense of: "Oh, does that upset you? Does that trigger you?" Sometimes objections are dismissed or played down in this way.
What exactly is behind this term from a psychological point of view? "Trigger" means something like "to set off, to activate". Originally, the term was used for technical events that produce a reaction; one does not know from exactly where they come. In psychology, the term "trigger" is used figuratively for key stimuli that trigger something innate or learned in us[1]
When we talk about "being triggered", we are referring to innate, instinctive and strong reactions to indications of dangerous situations. At the same time, certain sensory impressions can also become individual triggers only in the course of life. We can learn them, so to speak. Triggers in this sense are stimuli that awaken unpleasant feelings or memories in us. For this, we do not necessarily have to be able to clearly assign or understand why this is happening at that particular moment. Strong feelings arise in us, the intensity or form of which cannot necessarily be explained by the triggering situation alone. There are reasons and experiences that lie within us. To an extreme extent, this can also be the case after a traumatisation. Certain aspects then remind people of the trauma and trigger the feelings they experienced during the traumatic situation. It is as if they are reliving the traumatic situation.
However, less drastic triggers in our previous lives can also act as triggers for us. For example, this may include hurtful experiences with important caregivers, especially in an earlier part of life. Stimuli that function as triggers can be of any kind: they can be certain places, smells and sounds, seasons or dates, external features of a person, but also individual sentences that have some connection with what we experienced at that time.
Most of the time, people are surprised by such a trigger, almost overtaken physically and psychologically. Those affected often describe sensations such as freezing, sinking, losing the ground under their feet, not being able to breathe any more. It is precisely because the triggers are so individual and not simply related to the current event that these reactions are sometimes difficult for outsiders to understand. Even those affected themselves do not always have immediate access to the causes, i.e. the triggers, or to the reasons behind them. All this often leads to conflicts or quarrels in relationships.
It can therefore be all the more helpful to reflect internally in order to find out what "keeps triggering" a person in certain situations. In conflicts with others, it can also help to explain to them what is happening internally. It can be de-escalating to understand that the other person was only the trigger and not the reason for your own reaction.
If certain reactions keep arising in us and complicate our everyday life or relationships, it can be useful to seek outside help. Triggers can be identified within the framework of counselling or therapy and, ideally, a solution can be worked out for how to better protect against such reactions. If the triggers are related to a traumatic experience, psychotherapy is often recommended. Psychotherapy works towards storing the experience in the memory in a different way. The aim is not to perceive the memory of the event as pleasant, but to ensure that the memory no longer causes such intense emotional states. The goal is to store the experience in an integrated way and to be able to live with it better.
But what is the danger when we use a term like "trigger" thoughtlessly?
Thomas Weber, psychologist and managing director of the Centre for Trauma and Conflict Research in Cologne, puts it succinctly:
“The disparagement of individual terms does not serve to process traumatic events, but rather leads to a reactivation of the traumatic experience. The development of the term "trigger" is similar to that of the term "victim", which has long been used as a swear word or as a pejorative, especially in social media.”[2]
Perhaps we can allow ourselves to use terms like "trigger" in their real sense and take them seriously as an indication that something difficult to control and powerful is going on inside us? Maybe thus we can work towards meeting such expressions or reactions in others in a helping or accepting way instead of a depreciating or defending way?
In this sense I wish you all the best in recognising your own trigger points and perhaps also understanding in recognising them in others.
[1] Stangl, W. (2023, 12. Februar). Trigger – Online Lexikon für Psychologie & Pädagogik.
lexikon.stangl.eu/21840/trigger.
[2] www.spiegel.de/psychologie/trigger-warnungen-psychologe-erklaert-wann-und-inwiefern-sie-sinnvoll-sind-a-39b38eab-e1d3-42a4-b501-75637bbb343f
