Senses and Sensibility
Coping with Triggers Associated with Trauma
Do you ever catch a whiff of a scent that instantly transports you to the past? The aroma of fresh bread suddenly brings you back to a stool in your grandmother’s kitchen, enveloped in a sense of warmth and calm. Degree deodorant gives you butterflies in your stomach as though your old fling just walked by, even years after the fact.
Our senses have the fascinating ability to evoke strong memories and emotions from past experiences. This is a survival instinct developed to help us react more quickly in case of a threat. Our brains link sensory information with past experiences and emotions to help us make faster and more efficient decisions.
While this can be helpful in dangerous situations which require quick action, it can also result in the mistaken activation of stress responses in instances where they aren’t called for. For example, footsteps behind you might evoke feelings of a past attack and trigger our fight-or-flight response. Your body may respond with fear and anxiety before your conscious mind even fully registers the trigger. This instinctual response is designed to keep us safe, however, it can be distressing when associated with traumatic experiences. When this causes an intense or psychological reaction linked to past trauma or negative experiences, it is referred…
