You may avoid certain people without being able to say why because something about them reminds your nervous system of danger. A person’s tone of voice, facial expressions, body language, smell, clothing, mannerisms, age, gender, or personality may remind you of someone from the past. Sometimes the trigger is not the person themselves but the feeling they create, such as pressure, shame, helplessness, fear, criticism, or being “in trouble.”
The person in the present may not be a threat to you. Your nervous system may simply be responding to similarities between this person and someone who was unsafe in the past, even if you have no conscious memory of it. In dissociative systems, some parts may may hold memories and react strongly to a person while other parts do not understand why.
This page is part of the Hidden Trauma Triggers: Why You Can Be Activated without Knowing Why section of the CommuniDID site, which explains unconscious cues, relational dynamics, and contextual triggers can activate the nervous system before you realize what triggered the reaction.
Explore related topics:
Have a question this page didn’t answer? Click “Yes” or “No” below and a comment box will appear where you can leave your question. Comments are reviewed but not made public.