Have you ever felt emotionally triggered because of something you saw on the news, in media, or in real life?

Welcome back to Savvy Psychologist. I'm your host Dr. Monica Johnson. Every week on this show

I'll help you face life challenges with evidence-based approaches, a sympathetic ear ear and zero judgment.

There are so many things happening in the world

that are potentially triggering for us.

Events in the news like people getting murdered or being the victim of serious bodily harm or similar themes depicted in entertainment we consume can trigger us.

So let's first define what a triggering event is.

A trigger or stressor is anything that can lead

to a negative emotional reaction. When an individual says they are triggered, what they

typically mean is that the stimuli brought on or worsened symptoms related to

their mental health. These could be a wide range of

symptoms related to mood, anxiety, PTSD, and more and we'll get into that in

more detail later.

Triggers are often connected to trauma.

Viscarious trauma relates to stressors that are witnessed by others.

There are also related types of trauma which include race-based

trauma and other types of minority stress like those related to sexuality, gender,

and religion. These sorts of trauma describe the chronically high levels of

stress faced by members of oppressed groups due to the interpersonal experiences of bias, prejudice, discrimination, and hate crimes.

You can also have intergenerational trauma, which is trauma transferred from one generation to the next.

These traumas can be related to systemic issues like racism or personal traumas like domestic violence or child sexual abuse.

If you find that certain things are triggering for you, it's

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