Media is always a potential source for trauma triggers. This election year means that virtually every medium is a sharknado poised to suck you in to its dangerous depths. You do not have to succumb to it, however. With these three tips, you can stay in the moment, manage your reaction to the trigger and make a plan to avoid triggers in the future.

1. Stay in the Moment
One of the first steps you can take toward managing your triggers is to acknowledge what is happening. You may be tempted to distract yourself or avoid the feeling as much as possible. This can be helpful if you are not in a position to evaluate your surroundings, but there is benefit to be had from staying in the moment. If you can, take the time to consider how you are feeling. What sorts of physical responses do you observe as a result of the trigger? Take note of them, so that you can be better prepared to cope with them next time.

How many of you - just for the heck of it - randomly dart your eyes around, back and forth, up and down or diagonally? Most of us don’t, unless we’re dreaming and having REM sleep.

Research has found that this rapid eye movement, that occurs in our sleep, plays a significant role in processing and storing information. Rapid eye movement can also help in the healing of trauma, good news for those dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

How many of you have heard the comment “oh...you’re just too sensitive”?   Maybe you feel hurt when people say that and think there is something wrong with you.   According to Elaine Aron, Ph.D in The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), approximately 20 ­percent of the population has a highly sensitive nervous system.   For these individuals (myself included), it's as if they wear their nerves on the outside of their skin.  In the first part of this series on sensitivity I will discuss those who find themselves on the highly sensitive side of the HSP spectrum.

If you’re an HSP, you can experience external and internal stimulation rather quickly and with more intensity and duration.  It’s as though your nervous system is an antenna running through your mind and body—always on and picking up signals from everything around you.   As an HSP, you can become overstimulated and this “noise” or “static” can result in a variety of mental and physical complaints that may be difficult to diagnose.  

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), popularized through films like Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Welcome to Me (2014), is a diagnosis many patient's fear because of the overwhelming  stigma associated with it.

​A tell­tale sign of BPD is a person's erratic and unstable relationships, caused by outsized reactivity when feeling threatened and/or rejected.