Fugitivus Discussion Forum

((Trigger warning for talking about things that trigger us, obviously.))

Do you guys have any triggers that would just seem weird if you didn't take a moment to explain why, or even triggers that you can't even explain? (TBQH I'm hoping this thread will make me feel less like a freak. <_<)

Off the top of my head, the noises styrofoam makes when it's torn or squeezed or pretty much touched in any way, shape or form is a really bad but really strange trigger.

TW: Forced institutionalization


Showering is another strong trigger for me, because

TW: parental abuse

This is really rather unfortunate because it results in me not really showering more than once or twice a week. <_<;

I am being really conservative with the spoiler tags and trigger warnings. Better safe than sorry, right? :/

I don't think I have any unusual triggers- just the obvious ones.

(Some) things I have been triggered by. (In the more then once category):

Reading my own blog post, on my own blog, after ignoring my own trigger warnings that were meant for me. (Jeeze!)

Random bits of extreme dysphoria.

When staying at somewhere that isn't my parents, thinking a little too hard about the fact I'll have to go back to their place eventually.

Hmm... I guess none of those are really weird, although the first one makes me chuckle. Any other triggers are too rare or random for me to even really think about them.

@esuriospiritus: I wanted to say (because of the TBQH) that I don't think that either of those are strange considering. They make a lot of sense to me.

I've only ever really been triggered one time that I can really identify (other times have stunk of course! but that tended to be "fallout from stuff that had happened that day" or "can't identify what made me feel so crappy all of a sudden" which I don't really think of as triggers)
but uh anyway! It's mainly only weird because it's only happened once, and out of the blue, the trigger was from seeing a certain name in the context of internet role-playing.

Yep.

They're not strong triggers—they'll start me down the road to panic and terror; they won't get me all the way there in one shot, or have lasting effects past a few hours—but some of them are a little odd and one is downright inexplicable without context.

My weirdest trigger: Hearing a friend claim belief in psychic powers.

I have plenty of others and they're all behaviours exhibited by my first and worst abusive ex-friend, but that's the one that makes even me go "Huh?" sometimes. Explanation:



So now when someone starts talking to me about the supernatural, instead of trying to keep an open mind and accept their experiences as valid for them, I get all nervous and try to change the subject.

Anything art-related. Especially bad art.

so now I want to burn my shiny set of oil paints that I've hardly used.

Not my trigger, but someone very close to me. She had a 7-hour ordeal, and as a result, cannot listen to any music that was played during that seven hours. She remembers every song, and as a result, cannot hear these songs... Making creating playlists very difficult indeed! So as a result my iTunes has been stripped of some twenty or thirty songs, ensuring that there's no chance of an upset night when my music's on shuffle. Every now and again, a new song would emerge and I'd have to add it to the list and wipe it from all existence. Mercifully, few of the songs are still played on commercial radio.

Wow.

I've gone through that with a few bands/songs. In some cases I've been able to get over it, in others... not so much.

It's amazing (for lack of a better word more indicating of empathy) that she remembers all seven hours worth of songs. The human brain is a tragic thing, sometimes. :/

Druids/druidism. The abusive rapist ex was big into druids and druidism and talked about it incessantly. Only person I've met in person who was - he even applied online to join some druidic neo-pagan organization or another. I don't move a lot in local neo-pagan circles, so it's rarely an issue, but a car in my old neighborhood had the licence plate "DRUID" and it would make me hostile and anxious and weirded out every time I saw it. Took me a while to figure out why. The absurdity of being put into alert mode by druids (oddly, RPG-specific references to druids, like someone mentioning they play a druid in WoW or D&D doesn't bother me - just the neo-pagan variation) would be funny if it weren't so sucky.

Oh hells yeah.

Slipping on the ice when it was really cold triggered me once.
(TW physical child abuse)


Friends walking behind me if it is just two of us. I can't explain it, it just makes me freak if I can't see them without craning my head around and we are walking together. They have to be in front or beside me.

Anyone running behind me with a shopping cart.
(TW physical abuse)


Not being able to pay for something I need. I immediately panic thinking I will be homeless again and can't take care of myself.