Memories play a big role in a trauma survivor’s life. Without being able to distinguish between the event and the memories of the event, a trauma victim could have devastating consequences from those memories. And these could last for many, many years, even longer than the traumatic experience.
What are Trigger Memories?
Triggers are stimuli that are directly or indirectly connected to a traumatic event. It is something a victim smells, sees, hears, touches or tastes that brings the event to the front of their mind. When a trauma victim comes into contact with a trigger, it is like the event is happening to them again. Traumatic memories cannot always deliberately be recalled or articulated. However, triggers, whether they are associated with the traumatic events or not, can reactivate the memories even decades after the events occurred. Triggers can cause a variety of physical and mental responses. Trigger memories can be both helpful and harmful as the victim can tend to keep positive stimuli away.
What Negative Effects Can Memory Have?
When remembering past trauma, the brain has a natural negativity bias. This is the idea that we use, learn from and place more priority on negative stimuli more than positive. Related to remembering a trauma, a victim would remember the negative aspects (e.g. what happened to them) of the trauma far quicker and much stronger than the positive aspects (e.g. what made them feel safe or how they got help). This creates sensitivity to anything related to the previous danger and makes the body respond as though it were in a life threatening situation right that moment. This triggers their body’s survival mode, reacting the same way it does when they are in immediate danger. Because of these memories, there are responses that are triggered in them.
Some of these responses could be:
- Pounding heartbeat
- Burning shame
- Braced muscles
- Inability to breathe
- Numbness
- Explosive rage
These are all signs that a trauma victim is in imminent danger. They are unaware that it is triggered responses that have caused these things to occur. New fears arise when they asses the situation and determine they are not at risk. They could fear they are crazy or defective or they might feel they are just “pretending” at life. They feel like they have evidence for these fears and may start some new, unhealthy behaviors. They may isolate themselves from others, withdraw from usual activity, end healthy relationships, or start or stay in unhealthy ones. Some people don’t completely live their life because they don’t want to expose themselves to the triggers. And yet others choose self-destructive behaviors to manage overwhelming feelings which only makes them have more feelings of being defective and damaged.
Trauma therapy can help you understand the role of memories in your trauma experience. Please call me if you feel like you have had a hard time with memories from a traumatic experience.
