The Complexity of Emotional Triggers

While emotional triggers are often linked with trauma or equated to the impact of significant life events, in reality, emotional triggers are much more nuanced and highly complex. We have all experienced having our buttons pushed, and these feeling-toned expressions are not necessarily related to traumatic events. Rather, they are intimately connected to the nature of the complex. According to depth psychological principles, complexes are a feeling-toned set of ideas, perceptions, and associations that manifest as spontaneous and autonomous expressions. Furthermore, since these triggers impose behavioral patterns, they also guide our actions and even determine the kinds of experiences and expressions that move us forward, attract us towards one another, or repel us from each other¹.

While the power of the complex is often demonstrated through emotional disturbances and relational conflicts, even when the emotional triggers are not currently activated, they are still operating behind the scenes of our awareness and affect us without our knowledge (Siegel, 2010)². As Jung stated, “Everyone knows nowadays that people 'have complexes'. What is not so well-known - is that complexes can have us.” As such, emotional triggers often remain perplexing, seemingly impossible to get to the bottom of, or difficult to work through in a way that supports lasting change. Complexes are a huge force in every individual’s life and, just like volcanoes, they have such a tremendous force and are indeed greater than one’s own will. In fact, the nature of the complex behaves in a similar manner to a volcano. For example, some complexes rest peacefully lying dormant beneath the surface of awareness and some are barely noticeable if not for the manifestation of a subtle shift in mood. Other complexes erupt from time to time, perhaps demonstrated through frustration at a given situation or irritation with a particular person. Still other complexes act more like active volcanos. These are rarely peaceable and often instigate relational conflict. Then there are those complexes which erupt constantly as evidenced by all sorts of problematic behavior that continues for long durations of time, even an entire lifetime.

Since the impact of emotional triggers are often related to the many varied reasons why individuals seek therapy, it is vitally important to remember that triggers operate through a multitude of different avenues such as bodily postures, sensations and intuitions all of which can manifest as emotional responses. Moreover, because many of these associations are unconscious by nature, emotional triggers can be difficult to work through even with the support of professional guidance unless portals to the unconscious are intentionally accessed during the course of treatment and utilized within the therapeutic setting. In fact, emotional triggers are not workable through purely conscious processes because they are much more complicated than stimulus-response theory. Furthermore, given the complexity of individual experiences no meaningful connection can be found using a simple cause-and-effect analysis or through purely rational methods. In truth, even when the connections between past events and current reactions are seemingly clear, the ability to change strong emotional responses often seems impossible and this task can be especially daunting to those who have experienced trauma.

It is also important to note that triggers are actually a complex connection of personal associations that activate neural pathways and that each given emotional trigger is imbued with highly unique and distinctive characteristics that are solely dependent upon individual life experiences. While the phrase "neurons that fire together wire together" was coined by neurologist Donald Hebb in the 1940's, there actually does not need to be a causal relationship to interconnect neurons for them to form long-lasting associations with one another. Furthermore, since life continues to unfold these connections are always in flux. Given the many vicissitudes of life, any individual experience can either further fuel the intensity of these connections and subsequent reactions or begin to re-wire these connections and therefore soften the impact of the complex and any associated heightened emotional reactions.

Since the majority of neural connections are implicit and unconscious by nature, it is first necessary to uncover the deeper psychological underpinnings at play. While not always readily apparent, dreams actually reveal the deeper psychological underpinnings of these triggers and actually afford an inside look at triggering events. Dream work provides a unique opportunity to watch how these hidden dynamics play out or operate behind the scenes of awareness and guides the therapeutic process by establishing meaningful connections to the more subtle and somatic nature of these unconscious associations linking past experiences to present moment happenings³. Furthermore, dream work is a potent methodology that also supports the development of greater resiliency in the face of triggering situations by providing clues to open up the client to new ways of perceiving and responding to emotional triggers.

Given that emotional triggers often elicit heightened reactivity that can lead to unhelpful behaviors, the resultant impact not only effects the individual they also have a detrimental effect on others. Furthermore, it is common to witness an emotional trigger in one individual eliciting an emotional reaction in another.  These chain reactions frequently contribute to compounding the unhelpful effects for each individual and within the community, thus impeding meaningful connections across the board. It is vitally important to remember that even a small shift on the part of the individual can actually support healing on a broader scale, especially when these shifts happen in the present moment.

Have you ever noticed that it is common for the client or patient to describe a situation where one trigger seems to be resolved and even mastered only to realize that another one immediately appears? While a fixing mentality might work for one situation, psychological processes do not operate like a computer program nor do they behave in a rational manner. Essentially, since there is always a dynamic interplay occurring between the individual and their environment, this complex adaptive system requires a seemingly irrational and much more nuanced approach. During the therapeutic process, this whack-a-mole game clearly demonstrates the complexity of the human condition and certainly provides evidence that we do not eliminate emotional triggers. Rather we must undergo an inner exploration and learn to be curious about these reactions first. Only then can we incorporate practices that develop opportunities to grow bigger than our emotional reactions, hence the idea that complexes do not always have to 'have us'.

For certain, only when the individual gains a deeper appreciation and understanding of the complexity of their own triggers, can greater conscious awareness to the personal associations surrounding these strong reactions take place. Of course, once this conscious awareness has been established, it is necessary to undergo meaningful and concerted effort to explore the subtle nuances of these emotions and relate to them differently if any meaningful change and enduring transformation is to take place.

To learn more about the nature of emotional triggers and the psychological significance of the complex or to understand more about depth psychological principles that can guide the therapeutic process, join our Depth Psychology and Dream Work Certification Program. For details about this program please visit us @ https://www.creative-depth.com.

1. Levine, P. A. (2015). Trauma and memory: Brain and body in a search for the living past: A practical guide for understanding and working with traumatic memory. North Atlantic Books.
2. Siegel, D. J. (2010). Mindsight: The new science of personal transformation. Bantam.
3. Roesler, C., Kissling, L., Gees, A., & Sütterlin, T. (2024). Dreams in Psychotherapy: an empirically supported model of the relations of dreams to the course of psychotherapy. International Journal of Dream Research, 164-176.