Triggered By Something My T Said

I was triggered by something my T said in session yesterday and even though I felt like I was 7 yrs. old again, I was able to talk through it. My question to everyone here is: How do you find your voice? I have trouble "finding" my voice with my T, with my friends, and with family. I get transported back in time whenever anyone has a strong opinion because I feel like my opinion just doesn't matter or isn't important. Sometimes I think that the other person must be right and I must be wrong. Yesterday's trigger was very powerful - I felt very powerless and helpless. I actually felt like I was in my old 7 yr. old body. Any advice with how to deal with this while it is happening and how to work on finding my voice would be greatly appreciated...

I worked through triggers by making it clear to myself in that moment that the stuff that is getting triggered up is from the past and that this is seperate from the situation that I'm in at that moment. I also did a lot of analyzing afterwards to make a better plan for the next time. After a half dozen or so times the trigger was extinguished (it got less and less every time). It would help for you to discuss the stuff from the past that is getting triggered up in session also.

When you are in therapy can you tell your T "I just got triggered" and then you can go on to explain what happened and discuss the whole thing?

Same thing happened to me yesterday. T told me to stop acting like a little child. I said I wasn't, I was just crying and she said "No, there is a difference between crying like an adult and crying like a little child, You are acting like a little child." Thanks T.

Yes, yesterday I was able to tell her that I was triggered, although she was the first one to ask me to check in with my body and see where I was. I felt like shutting down but this time, she pushed my boundaries just a little and kept me in the present so I was able to talk about my feelings.

your T sounds like she knows what she is doing there with being able to keep you present, from what you said it seems like you are already starting to learn a little about finding your voice at least while T is present to guide and push ... now if there was just a nice way to do that at other times. I need to learn that also so watching for responses with anticipation

my T tells me that this happens(Flashbacks)but i dont have any idea when it is hapening i have a hard time even believing her and i hate the word also.i dont have any idea how to stop it but want to say i hope you can work with T to help you through it

Wish I had an answer. T triggered me yesterday, on purpose ,for the first time. Yucky. I will be prepared next time.

I think this is when I am able to talk after being really triggered, it's because T really works with me to keep me "there" enough to get some of it out.

Sometimes, the trigger is too big and I'm not ready yet. It seems like T knows when that's happening, and he just helps me get grounded without talking about it. I think even when that happens there is forward movement...because we're triggered, the big overwhelming feelings are there, but in the end, we're safe and there is someone who cares helping us through it.

If I REALLY want to try to get the words out, sometimes I will write them for T. Sometimes I will tell him a teeny tiny bit and then ask him to tell me something (like what he had for lunch). And then I tell him a little bit more and we work through it that way.

Being triggered is the worst, and I'm sorry you had to deal with those big feelings. Healing is hard work

I think it depends on the response to our "voice". I know each time I "spoke" a little more and T heard me and validated me and didn't abuse me, it became normal to have a voice. She gave me space to have a voice. Once we get that there is no going back.

I love the idea of having a "voice", earthmamma - I actually worked on a "finding my voice" project and brought it into my session today.
Treehouse, I like the idea of writing things down.
Laceylu - sorry you were triggered on purpose!

granite1 - thanks for posting!
tigergirl - I will work on finding my voice at other times.
sannah - I like the idea of processing it aftewards.
ptsd - sorry this happened to you!

OMG! That has to be the most insensitive thing I've ever heard. Is there a difference between childlike and adult crying? Seems to me that we are all neurotic children at our core.

If I knew that my T was triggering me purposefully, I would take exception to that. In the words of the late psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut:

"It is never, and when I say never, I mean never- any need to be artificially traumatic to the patient. It is traumatic enough that we are unable meet their needs."