The Get Wrong Do Right Emotional Health Newsletter

This month: What we get wrong about Getting Triggered, why we get it wrong and how what we could do it right. Plus book recommendations, the monthly poll and announcements. To subscribe click here.

What We Get Wrong about Getting Triggered

Getting triggered means having an immediate strong emotional response (e.g., anger or distress) to content or events that evoke a past traumatic experience. What get's triggered, therefore, is the trauma--the feelings and reactions that are associated with the traumatic event. 

Trigger warnings were initially instituted (in college campuses) to warn people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that the upcoming media or class includes certain themes, so that the person may either opt out or prepare themselves in order to lower their emotional reactivity to it. 

Today, some people use the term 'getting triggered' more broadly to include reactions that are not necessarily associated with past trauma. Indeed, in last month's poll, 46% of people said that getting triggered means they weren't able to control not just their emotions but their thoughts and behavior too.  

What we often fail to acknowledge is that if a person gets triggered but does not have PTSD, their sharp emotional response is likely due to an unhealed emotional wound.

This distinction is important because PTSD requires treatemnt by a mental health professional, while many emotional wounds can be treated (via therapy or self-help) and the sensitivity to them reduced as a result. 

The second thing we get wrong relates to trigger warnings. We assume they're both useful and effective. But many recent studies have found that neither is necessarily true.   

Are Trigger Warnings Useful?

A variety of studies have found that trigger warnings have a downside for people who have PTSD--they can reinforce a survivor's view of the trauma as being central to their identity--something that is counter-therapeutic and potentially damaging to their mental health as it gives the trauma an even bigger place in their lives than it already has (reminding them, suggesting they can't handle exposures, etc...). 

If the upside of trigger warnings was substantial, that would be one thing but as you'll see below, research has found they have only meager benefits.

Does that mean we should do away with trigger warnings? Not necessarily, as some people with PTSD might use them to opt out and the issue is still being studied. 

Misunderstanding #1

We believe that trigger warnings will help blunt the emotional impact of upsetting content. 

Studies found that trigger warnings have very little impact on the emotional responses people have to the content.  

Misunderstanding #2

We believe that trigger warnings will help people avoid distressing content.

Curiosity made Pandora open the mythical box and it turns out, something similar happens around trigger warnings. Some studies found that the same content presented with and without trigger warnings caused more people to engage with the content that had trigger warnings than the same content that did not have trigger warnings. 

New Treatments for PTSD

One of the more exciting developments in recent years are the clinical trials for treating PTSD with MDMA--as they are on the cusp of FDA approval and their results have been very promising. There are existing treatment modalities (e.g., EMDR) but whenever a new effective therapeutic comes online--it can bring hope to the millions of people who have not benefited from available treatments. I expect therapy assisted MDMA treatments for PTSD to be a game changer. chi

How to Deal with Getting Triggered if You Don't Have PTSD:

When a situation or certain content causes you an outsized sharp emotional response (especially when it's caused by content and not an interpersonal siltation), it implies you might have an emotional wound that has not healed fully or sufficiently.

For example, you're out on a date and your date reaches over with their fork and takes something from your plate with a smile, and you feel totally enraged. Or your sister tells you about a trip she took with her friends and you feel intensely sad.

You need to get curious about why you got triggered:

1. What exactly am I feeling?

2. What situation in my past is this reminding me of?

3. What are the feelings I still have about that situation? 

4. What can I do to address the emotional wound if it still hasn't fully healed?

For example, the person who reacts to their date doing the 'food steal' might have reacted strongly because their last relationship was with a very controlling person. Their reaction might indicate they still have some healing to do.

The 'sister trip' sadness might indicate you're feeling lonely or lacking a clear 'tribe', in which case action is required there too (check out the 3.23 newsletter for tips for healing loneliness by clicking the 'Previous Editions' icon up top).

In short, having outsized emotional responses to situations others react to less intensely can be signs of emotional wounds that still need healing. If you have them--find them and treat them.

Book Recommendations

Adam Grant: Hidden Potential:The Science of Achieving Greater Things (Viking, 2023)

Adam Grant always delivers great science based books that have interesting stories and takeaways and this one is no different. He looks at what it takes to succeed and the character you need to build in order to do so. He covers a few familiar names in the book, one of them might have the last name Winch (spoiler alert--it's not me--it's my twin brother). Highly recommended. 

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