Trauma trigger

A trauma trigger is a psychological stimulus that prompts involuntary recall of a previous traumatic experience. The stimulus itself need not be frightening or traumatic and may be only indirectly or superficially reminiscent of an earlier traumatic incident, such as a scent or a piece of clothing.^[1] Triggers can be subtle, individual, and difficult for others to predict.^[2]^[3] A trauma trigger may also be called a trauma stimulus, a trauma stressor or a trauma reminder.^[4]^[5]

The process of connecting a traumatic experience to a trauma trigger is called traumatic coupling.^[6] When trauma is "triggered", the involuntary response goes far beyond feeling uncomfortable and can feel overwhelming and uncontrollable, such as a panic attack, a flashback, or a strong impulse to flee to a safe place.^[7]^[8]^[9] Avoiding a trauma trigger, and therefore the potentially extreme reaction it provokes, is a common behavioral symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a treatable and usually temporary condition in which people sometimes experience overwhelming emotional or physical symptoms when something reminds them of, or "triggers" the memory of, a traumatic event.^[5] Long-term avoidance of triggers increases the likelihood that the affected person will develop a disabling level of PTSD.^[10] Identifying and addressing trauma triggers is an important part of treating PTSD.^[6]

A trigger warning is a message presented to an audience about the contents of a piece of media, to warn them that it contains potentially distressing content. A more generic term, which is not directly focused on PTSD, is content warning.

^ "Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)". vvaa.org.au. Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia. 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
^ van der Kolk, Bessel A. (January 1994). "The Body Keeps the Score: Memory and the Evolving Psychobiology of Post traumatic Stress". Harvard Review of Psychiatry. 1 (5): 253–265. doi:10.3109/10673229409017088. PMID 9384857. S2CID 23677122.
^ Dalton, Derek (2020). "Trigger Warnings in Criminology Teaching Contexts: Some Reflections Based on Ten Years of Teaching a Sensitive Topic". Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Criminology. Darren Palmer. Cham, Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-030-35158-8. OCLC 1145574118.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Fagan, Nancy; Freme, Kathleen (February 2004). "Confronting posttraumatic stress disorder". Nursing. 34 (2): 52–53. doi:10.1097/00152193-200402000-00048. PMID 14758331. S2CID 33910036.
^ ^a ^b Foa, Edna B.; Keane, Terence M.; Friedman, Matthew J.; Cohen, Judith A. (2008). Effective Treatments for PTSD, Second Edition: Practice Guidelines from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Guilford Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-60623-792-2.
^ ^a ^b Goulston, Mark (2011). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-118-05090-3.
^ Cite error: The named reference Laguardia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Taylor, Holly (2017). "Contagious Speech: Mediating the Eating Disorder Panic through Trigger Warnings". Trigger warnings : history, theory, context. Emily Knox. Lanham, Maryland. pp. 27–30. ISBN 978-1-4422-7371-9. OCLC 973920466.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Hilderbrand, Lucas; Sarkar, Bhaskar (2020-02-26). "Trigger Warnings and the Disciplining of Cinema and Media Pedagogy". In Ghosh, Bishnupriya (ed.). The Routledge Companion to Media and Risk. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-26822-2.
^ Lahad, Mooli; Doron, Miki (2010). Protocol for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: SEE FAR CBT Model : Beyond Cognitive Behavior Therapy. IOS Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-60750-574-7.

[:5-1] "Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)". vvaa.org.au. Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia. 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.

[Kolk1994-2] van der Kolk, Bessel A. (January 1994). "The Body Keeps the Score: Memory and the Evolving Psychobiology of Post traumatic Stress". Harvard Review of Psychiatry. 1 (5): 253–265. doi:10.3109/10673229409017088. PMID 9384857. S2CID 23677122.

[3] Dalton, Derek (2020). "Trigger Warnings in Criminology Teaching Contexts: Some Reflections Based on Ten Years of Teaching a Sensitive Topic". Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Criminology. Darren Palmer. Cham, Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-030-35158-8. OCLC 1145574118.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[Fagan-4] Fagan, Nancy; Freme, Kathleen (February 2004). "Confronting posttraumatic stress disorder". Nursing. 34 (2): 52–53. doi:10.1097/00152193-200402000-00048. PMID 14758331. S2CID 33910036.

[:0-5] Foa, Edna B.; Keane, Terence M.; Friedman, Matthew J.; Cohen, Judith A. (2008). Effective Treatments for PTSD, Second Edition: Practice Guidelines from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Guilford Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-60623-792-2.

[:6-6] Goulston, Mark (2011). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-118-05090-3.

[Laguardia-7] Cite error: The named reference Laguardia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[8] Taylor, Holly (2017). "Contagious Speech: Mediating the Eating Disorder Panic through Trigger Warnings". Trigger warnings : history, theory, context. Emily Knox. Lanham, Maryland. pp. 27–30. ISBN 978-1-4422-7371-9. OCLC 973920466.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[:12-9] Hilderbrand, Lucas; Sarkar, Bhaskar (2020-02-26). "Trigger Warnings and the Disciplining of Cinema and Media Pedagogy". In Ghosh, Bishnupriya (ed.). The Routledge Companion to Media and Risk. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-26822-2.

[:1-10] Lahad, Mooli; Doron, Miki (2010). Protocol for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: SEE FAR CBT Model : Beyond Cognitive Behavior Therapy. IOS Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-60750-574-7.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]