Trauma Trigger Interventions by Lynn Jeanette Amlie
Sudden Insight by LJAmlie
This is a list of simple intervention techniques you can easily use to interrupt yourself when you are triggered by past trauma, stress or conditioning. The first requirement for any of these techniques to be useful is for you to begin to notice your thoughts, feelings & behaviors & to utilize whatever process feels most appropriate at the time. It is important to remember that if you feel overly activated or upset by your reactions it may be useful for you to have assistance by someone trained in trauma resolution. Please feel free to contact me at the 'Services' link if you feel I can help you in this process. Use these and all processes at your own discretion, for only you can truly determine what is best for your BodyHeartMind.
4 Step Trauma Intervention
This is a basic 4 step intervention process I developed to help you interrupt maladaptive emotional & behavioral patterns. It is a simple way to begin to release the charge that these old imprints have, thus allowing your positive intentions & actions to be more effective.
1. Notice: Notice when you feel upset, especially when your response is disproportionate to the situation. Become the witness/observer of your own emotional terrain.
2. Interrupt: Use any beneficial means available to interrupt the pattern. Bilateral stimulation of any kind, especially like marching in place and tapping the opposite knee with the hand, is particularly effective. I recommended to a nurse who is in an intensive care unit to alternately squeeze her toes in her shoes when she can’t take time to do anything else, and it helped.
3. Discharge: Notice the sensations in your body immediately after the bilateral stimulation. You may notice tingling, sighing, energy streaming, yawning, trembling, laughing or whatever. Just notice it non-judgmentally as if you are an impartial witness.
4. Re-pattern: Take time once the stress energy has been released (even if just a little) to imagine a more positive outcome or scenario. Use your imagination to create a new and better probable reality! This is when positive affirmations become really effective.
Sympathetic/Parasympathetic Switch: (avoid if you have high blood pressure or heart problems)
Punch and Squat:
Prone Sympathetic Release: Lying on your back, squeeze your fists and scrunch your feet and hold tight for 5 seconds or so. Then all at once release and relax. Watch for signs of discharge in your body.
Grounding: Our bodies and nervous systems function as a lightening rod and our energy can literally be “grounded” by being in direct contact with the Earth. Stand or lye on dirt or stone with skin in direct contact.
Eating Heavier (but still healthy) foods:
Eating meat, especially of organic, large, land animals, can help slow down & ground your energy, especially if you have a tendency to 'leave your body' &/or dissociate.
4 Step Trauma Intervention
This is a basic 4 step intervention process I developed to help you interrupt maladaptive emotional & behavioral patterns. It is a simple way to begin to release the charge that these old imprints have, thus allowing your positive intentions & actions to be more effective.
1. Notice: Notice when you feel upset, especially when your response is disproportionate to the situation. Become the witness/observer of your own emotional terrain.
2. Interrupt: Use any beneficial means available to interrupt the pattern. Bilateral stimulation of any kind, especially like marching in place and tapping the opposite knee with the hand, is particularly effective. I recommended to a nurse who is in an intensive care unit to alternately squeeze her toes in her shoes when she can’t take time to do anything else, and it helped.
3. Discharge: Notice the sensations in your body immediately after the bilateral stimulation. You may notice tingling, sighing, energy streaming, yawning, trembling, laughing or whatever. Just notice it non-judgmentally as if you are an impartial witness.
4. Re-pattern: Take time once the stress energy has been released (even if just a little) to imagine a more positive outcome or scenario. Use your imagination to create a new and better probable reality! This is when positive affirmations become really effective.
Sympathetic/Parasympathetic Switch: (avoid if you have high blood pressure or heart problems)
- Walk up a steep hill, or run, or march in place with knees high just until you feel your heart and respiration increase (be gentle, this is not heavy aerobics!).
- Then lie down and witness the sensations in your body with micro awareness. Specifically watch your breathing change from fast and shallow to slow and steady, often with one or two automatic breaths in-between that are like deep sighs.
- Repeat a couple of times to re-train the nervous system to easily switch between the Sympathetic Activation mode and the Parasympathetic Rest and Repair mode.
Punch and Squat:
- With knees wide, squat down until leg muscles are activated.
- Gently bounce up and down in this high squat position while alternately punching into the air with your fists. You can also punch a pillow or the back of a couch etc. just to give bilateral sensory stimulation to your hands, but this is not meant to be an emotional catharsis or venting.
- Do this 20 or so times until heart rate & respiration are slightly elevated and then sit or lie down in a relaxed position and watch for any discharge sensations.
Prone Sympathetic Release: Lying on your back, squeeze your fists and scrunch your feet and hold tight for 5 seconds or so. Then all at once release and relax. Watch for signs of discharge in your body.
Grounding: Our bodies and nervous systems function as a lightening rod and our energy can literally be “grounded” by being in direct contact with the Earth. Stand or lye on dirt or stone with skin in direct contact.
Eating Heavier (but still healthy) foods:
Eating meat, especially of organic, large, land animals, can help slow down & ground your energy, especially if you have a tendency to 'leave your body' &/or dissociate.