Published on October 27, 2023
Written by Charlie Health Editorial Team
Use this worksheet to identify and better understand trauma triggers, which surface intense emotions from past traumas. Doing so can help you process your feelings and move forward.
Clinically Reviewed by Dr. Don Gasparini
A trauma-caused trigger is a type of stimulus that causes an extreme emotional response, whether it’s fear, anxiety, depression, or anger. Exploring your trauma triggers and the way they impact you today opens the door to moving forward in your life. Start identifying your triggers to find out what areas of your life are currently influenced by past events.
Trauma Triggers Worksheet
What is a trauma trigger?
A trigger is a sensory reminder that brings up memories of one or more past traumatic events. Oftentimes, the memory is accompanied by a strong emotional response, such as fear, anxiety, or sadness. For instance, someone who lost a parent near Christmas may feel triggered when the holiday season approaches. Walking alone at night could be a trigger for a victim of a violent crime.
Completing a trigger trauma worksheet can be an early step in identifying what life events are still impacting you today. It helps you put together puzzle pieces to understand why you have a strong emotional response to certain situations.
Identifying trauma triggers
Understanding your trauma, responses, and associated behaviors is an important step to creating a coping plan to make life more manageable. With that awareness, you can move forward in recognizing when you have unresolved issues that need to be addressed. Oftentimes, working with a mental health professional is the best way to manage trauma-based triggers. Cognitive behavioral therapy, for instance, can be extremely effective in identifying the reasons behind your emotions and beginning to heal.
How Charlie Health helps with trauma
Charlie Health helps teens and young adults with trauma from all stages of life. Our Intensive Outpatient Program involves individual therapy, group sessions, and family therapy every week. Our outcomes for clients who complete at least two weeks of our program include a 44% reduction in depression symptoms, a 45% reduction in anxiety symptoms, and a 64% reduction in self-harm.
If past traumas are still leaving their mark on you today, it may be time to get help.
Click here to get started with Charlie Health today.
