The ‘Am I triggered?’ Checklist
FREE TRAUMA RESOURCE
A practical self-check for the moments when you’re trying to work out whether your reaction is telling you something important about the present, being shaped by the past, or both.
Trauma triggers can feel completely reasonable in the moment. Your reaction may feel proportionate, justified and entirely about what is happening right now, even when a past experience is influencing the intensity, meaning or interpretation of what’s happening.
And that is exactly why triggers can be so difficult to recognise from the inside.
This checklist gives you six questions to help you slow the situation down and examine what may be contributing to your reaction. Use them to consider whether what you’re experiencing is:
primarily a trauma response
a reasonable emotional response to the present situation
or, as is often the more complicated reality, some combination of both
The aim isn’t to talk yourself out of your feelings or label every strong reaction as trauma. It’s to help you assess your response with more context, accuracy and nuance.
How to use it
Answer the six questions honestly, giving each a yes or no.
If your answers point to a triggered response, that doesn't mean your feelings aren't real. It means they may be more about your history than your present. That's important information. The next step is to slow down and revisit the situation from a more grounded place when you're able to.