When we have experienced trauma in the past we can be
vulnerable to triggers that cause reactions in the here and now. These
reactions commonly include flashbacks (re-living aspects of the trauma).
Triggers cause anxiety responses, which in turn activate fight/flight
responses. However neither of these are necessarily helpful, especially in the
longer term.
Flashbacks
Flashbacks are intrusive thoughts, feelings and/or images of
past traumatic or painful experiences. They can be recurrent or happen
infrequently. They can be triggered by coming into contact with people or
situations that directly or indirectly remind us of unpleasant past experiences
and/ or by seemingly unrelated experiences now that leave us feeling vulnerable
or anxious or with feelings similar to what we experienced in the past. Smell
can be a strong trigger.
Fight/ Flight
Fighting tends to put our focus on the reactions and make
them grow. Anxiety breeds anxiety and we can find ourselves caught up in a
vicious cycle.
Fleeing can use some of the emotional energy created by the
anxiety, but we soon find that we have taken the memories of the trauma with us
in our brains. This does not deal with the reactions, and next time a trigger
occurs the reactions may be just as strong.
Alternatives to fight/flight in the short term
Taking the following steps may help:
- Accepting our reactions for what they are and reminding ourselves that the trauma is not happening now – it is just a memory.
- Becoming grounded – by focusing on our breathing and trying to breathe deeply and slowly, by touching something (like a chair or table), by becoming aware of our feet on the ground and by becoming aware of our surroundings. Focus on the here and now, noticing where we are and what is around us.
- Trying to get to a place where we feel safe, concentrating on breathing deeply and slowly while we get there. If possible also seek out a support person – someone we feel safe with and whom we can trust.
- Offloading/ letting go both intellectually and emotionally – expressing emotions, talking to the trusted support person or doing offload writing. An exercise developed at Milwaukee Brief Family Therapy Centre is to write down the intrusive images and thoughts, read them aloud to a supportive person, or to yourself (whilst imagining the support of a person you know who would be a compassionate listener), then take the paper you have written on, tear it up and throw it away.
- Doing something comforting (e.g. cuddle a pillow or soft toy).
- Distracting onto something else that takes up our thoughts and concentrates them on something that is enjoyable. This is not flight, but more about retraining our brains.
Longer term
There are benefits from learning the skills of mindfulness
and meditation and practising these on a daily basis. We may also need to find
ways to work thought the issues the trauma has created in our lives.
Remember: we can’t change the past, but we can concentrate on
building a better future.
