Coping with Complex PTSD Triggers

1. Acknowledge your feelings rather than fighting them. "I am feeling afraid" 2. Check the facts. "Is there an immediate danger for which to be afraid?" 3. Acknowledge that what you are feeling is an activated trauma response. 4. Breathe, breathe, breathe

Yeah that is definitely the largely distressing part, it sucks. I think sometimes people write down times that has happened to them and look to see what triggers them so they know when it might happen in the future. Also if you are triggered by a person in particular (whether or not they are related to your past trauma experiences), writing a letter helps, you just write it to them as if you were saying everything you wish you could say. I recently wrote three letters to my dad and they helped me understand my frustrations with him without being triggered with him there. I didn't send him the first or second but I did send him the third. The first was very angry. It was very helpful to write. The second one was particularly compassionate but still saying the same main points that the first letter said. The third one, I wrote after I had just got home from spending time with him and he had seriously pissed me off. I wrote how I feel and messaged it to him. But even just the first two helped a lot