Chapter 13: Treating the Long-term Impact of ACEs Part IV: Triggers

One of my patients was verbally and emotionally abused by her mother for nearly fifty years. For the last fifteen of those years, she suffered debilitating attacks of dizziness and vomiting every month or two. A major university medical center was unable to find the cause, even after consultation with a dozen specialists including a psychiatrist. She was hospitalized about sixty times.

Dr. Clarke’s renowned book, They Can’t Find Anything Wrong! 7 Keys to Understanding, Treating, and Healing Stress Illness.

What none of her doctors discovered was that all her attacks were triggered by interaction with her mother. She never saw the connection because emotions regarding her mother were so thoroughly repressed. After I clarified for her the strong link between her mother and her attacks of illness, she was able to talk about her emotions for the first time. Somewhat unusually, her symptoms improved on the spot and never returned. (Most PPD patients with triggers need more time and treatment.) The full story of this patient is told at the beginning of my first book They Can’t Find Anything Wrong!

That patient is my favorite example of a trigger. A trigger is a person (such as an ACE perpetrator), event or situation that causes negative emotions (repressed or not) because of links to ACEs or other trauma. Triggers can be challenging to recognize. Whenever your pain or illness flares up, think about people you have encountered, events that have taken place or situations you are in that might present difficulties or have similarities to trauma or adversity in the past.

Once recognized, it is essential to understand that no one deserves to have a trigger in their life that causes physical or mental suffering. Developing an appropriate level of self-esteem can provide key support to fully accepting this concept. The next step is captured in the phrase “Setting Boundaries”. Making changes to limit your contact with or reduce the severity of triggers is no more than you deserve. The last thing anyone who endured ACEs should have to cope with is a continuation or a relapse of the same adversity as an adult.

This brings us to the end of my initial set of chapters. Collectively they present the core of my clinical practice that was developed from experience of over 40 years. My best wishes for

rapid and complete recovery from your Psychophysiologic Disorder. I welcome suggestions (email to info@ppdassociation.org) to write about other subjects or expand on one or more of the topics above.

David D. Clarke MD
June, 2023