If you’ve lived through trauma, you probably know some of your triggers well. An anniversary, a certain time of year, running into a specific person, a smell or a song. These are the expected triggers. They’re painful, but you can often see them coming, plan for them, and lean on your support.
Then there are the unexpected triggers. You open your phone and a news story knocks the wind out of you. Lately, many of my clients have felt this with the coverage of the sexual assault lawsuit at Cornell, often called the “Cornell 7” case. (If this story in particular is weighing on you, here’s a helpful guide on how to cope if the news about the Cornell 7 is triggering you.) You weren’t looking for it. You didn’t choose it. And suddenly your chest is tight, your stomach drops, and you’re back in a moment you’ve worked hard to move past.
If this is happening to you, nothing is wrong with you. Your nervous system is doing exactly what it learned to do: scan for danger and sound the alarm when something looks familiar. Here’s what I’d tell you if you were sitting in my office.
In the moment: drop into your body, not the story
When a trigger hits, our minds want to make sense of it. We replay the headline, compare it to our own experience, imagine what happened, and spin out into “what if” and “how could they.” That’s the story, and it’s the part that keeps us stuck.
What helps most in the first few minutes is to set the story aside and turn toward what’s happening in your body:
Pause and notice. Where do you feel this? Tightness in your throat, heat in your face, a heavy chest, shaky hands?
Name the sensation, not the narrative. “My chest is tight. My hands are buzzing. I feel scared.” Leave out the “because.”
Breathe and stay with it. Let the wave be there without fixing it or pushing it away. Put a hand where you feel it most if that helps.
Ground through your senses. Feel your feet on the floor. Notice three things you can see and two things you can hear.
Here’s why this works. Neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor describes how the chemical surge behind an emotional reaction moves through the body and flushes out in about 90 seconds (My Stroke of Insight, 2008). Pure sensations and emotions, felt without resistance, are meant to rise, peak, and pass, often within a few minutes.
Why we stay stuck longer
If emotions can pass in minutes, why do some of us feel triggered for hours or days? Usually it’s one of two things.
1. We’re blocking or avoiding the sensation. When feelings are overwhelming, it makes sense to brace against them. We numb out, stay busy, scroll, or push the feeling down. But what we resist tends to stick around. The energy never gets to complete its cycle, so it keeps knocking.
2. Our thoughts keep re-triggering us. Every time we replay the story, imagine new details, or argue with it in our head, the body responds as if the threat is happening again. Each thought restarts the 90-second clock. Hours later, we’re still caught in a loop that our minds keep feeding.
The goal isn’t to stop thinking or never feel upset. It’s to give your feelings room to move through you, and to notice when your thoughts are pulling you back into the story.
After the moment: protect yourself from re-triggering
Once the initial wave passes, the next step is to stop re-exposing yourself to it. This isn’t avoidance or sticking your head in the sand. It’s caring for a nervous system that’s already working hard.
Take a break from social media. Comment sections, reposts, and endless hot takes are built to keep you engaged, and they can keep you activated. Stepping away for a few days is allowed.
If you stay connected, set limits. Pick a specific time to check the news, ideally not first thing in the morning or right before bed, and set a timer.
Notice how you feel while scrolling. If your shoulders are creeping up or your breath is getting shallow, that’s your cue to close the app.
Choose your sources. One trusted, factual source is enough. You don’t need every angle or every update.
Fill the space with something regulating. Take a walk, call a friend who feels safe, move your body, or do a few minutes of Yoga Nidra or slow breathing.
You don’t have to carry this alone
Being triggered by the news doesn’t mean you’re back at square one. Often it means old wounds are asking for more care. In trauma therapy, we work with both your mind and your body, so your nervous system can learn that it’s safe now, even when the world feels anything but.
If you’re still struggling with rumination even with these tips, you can book a free consult here with one of our trauma therapists in Los Angeles.
If you’re in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also reach RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.