what is meant by being trigger and what is happening to them?

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When something/one triggers someone else what is causing them to trigger and what is happening on a biological level is can the effects change?

is it a different term for the fight or flight response?

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

common use of the word “triggered” just means angry. Like if something annoys you, you could say that triggers me. However this use of the word is very juvenile. But it is also a way to say something that causes a severe reaction. Like say a panic attack or a PTSD related attack. So something that causes said attacks would be considered a trigger.

Anonymous 0 Comments

When you are “triggered” you are undergoing an emotional response, usually sadness or anger. Things that trigger you are linked to memory. Memories usually have some type of emotion associated with them. Let’s say your mom died in a car accident. Every time you drive by a car accident the memory of your mother’s death comes to mind and with it the associated emotion (sadness, etc). This can work with almost anything.

People can be triggered for many things including things they didn’t experience per se but learned. Let’s say you read about racism and you got extremely angry over it (understandably so). You’re still tying an emotional response to it, thus if you see racist symbols or things seeming racially unjust your brain recalls that emotion tied to that memory (thing you’ve learned).

In sum, on a biological level, the parts of your brain that control emotion are either the same or strongly tied to the parts that control memory. These two interact. Your brain sees something that reminds them of that memory and the emotion tied to that memory is recalled because the two work in concert.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s just a term coined recently meaning a response has been caused, usually an aggressive one. Much like one “triggers” a bomb or other explosive.

When I was in high school 15 years ago the term either wasn’t around or at the least not as commonly used, however the reference to an explosive reaction was. If someone got angry at a statement or action I would have said they had “gone off” at the situation.

Triggered is just the current term, in another 10-15 years it’ll have changed again, probably several times