如何永遠不再被「觸發」情緒地雷：英語精讀講義

The concept of being triggered,

被觸發（情緒崩潰）的概念，

though it may at times be overused, 文法

雖然有時可能被濫用，

sits on top of a hugely important concept in psychological life,

但它建立在心理生活中一個極其重要的概念之上，

which demands our respect, compassion, and attention.

這需要我們的尊重、同情和關注。

To be triggered is, 文法

被觸發，

in its most basic form,

在其最基本的形式上，

to respond with intense fear and anger

是以強烈的恐懼和憤怒去回應

to a situation in the here and now, 慣用語

此時此地發生的情況，

which to other people may seem blameless and unconcerning.

而這些情況在別人看來可能毫無問題、毫不相干。

One moment we are calm, 表達脈絡

前一刻我們還很平靜，

the next we're catapulted into despair and terror. 慣用語

下一刻就被拋入絕望和恐懼之中。

Only minutes ago,

僅僅幾分鐘前，

the future looked hopeful.

未來看起來還充滿希望。

Now, only ruin and disaster seem to lie ahead. 片語動詞

現在，似乎只有毀滅和災難在前方等待。

Most of us who suffer from these episodes

我們大多數經歷過這些發作的人

would very much like to better hold on to calm and hope. 片語動詞

都非常希望能更好地保持平靜和希望。

It may be important to know how to be scared or angry

知道如何感到害怕或憤怒可能是重要的，

when situations actually demand it.

當情況確實需要我們如此時。

But, the triggered person typically feels after an episode,

但是，被觸發的人在發作後通常會覺得，

it's also deeply counterproductive and just plain exhausting 用詞

這也是極其適得其反且純粹讓人筋疲力盡的：

to be visited by powerful emotions 慣用語

被強烈的情緒所侵襲，

that aren't warranted by what lies before us 用詞

而眼前的情況並不足以引發這些情緒，

and that fail to advance our interests in any way. 片語搭配

並且這些情緒無法以任何方式促進我們的利益。

The way out of being uncontrollably triggered

擺脫失控觸發的方法

is to understand how the mechanism operates.

是理解這種機制是如何運作的。

The mind is triggered

大腦被觸發，

when it believes that it recognizes in the world around it

是當它認為自己在周圍世界中識別出了

a situation that it feels, from memory,

一個根據記憶讓它覺得

is going to be highly damaging and dangerous.

將會具有高度破壞性和危險性的情況。

Our triggers are a secret guide to our own private histories. 慣用語

我們的觸發點是我們自身私人歷史的秘密指南。

They tell us about things

它們告訴我們

that we were once very afraid of.

那些我們曾經非常害怕的事情。

The triggering element 表達脈絡

觸發因素

is like a piece of a jigsaw

就像一塊拼圖，

that will precisely fit into an analogous puzzle in the past.

它能精確地嵌入過去的一個類似拼圖中。

We are triggered now 表達脈絡

我們現在被觸發，

by what we were devastated by then.

是因為我們曾經被它擊潰過。

Even if we don't remember too much about our past, 文法

即使我們對自己的過去記憶模糊，

we can guess everything we need to know

也可以猜出我們需要知道的一切，

from reverse engineering our triggers. 慣用語

透過對我們的觸發點進行逆向工程。

If we're constantly afraid we're going to be excommunicated and mocked,

如果我們總是害怕會被排斥和嘲笑，

this will in some form be exactly what happened to us at some stage long ago.

那麼在某種程度上，這正是很久以前某個階段發生在我們身上的事。

If we're terrified that someone is going to overpower us

如果我們害怕有人會制服我們

and not listen to our no's, 語氣意圖

並且不聽我們的拒絕，

this is an almost sure echo of what we once experienced.

這幾乎肯定是我們曾經經歷過的回音。

The precise relationship between trigger and catalytic event

觸發點和催化事件之間的精確關係

may not always be literally equivalent.

可能並不總是字面上的對等。

There can be some displacement along the way. 用詞

在此過程中可能會有一些位移。

But,

但是，

the link will be strong all the same. 片語搭配

這種聯繫依然會很強烈。

The trigger contains and maps onto a traumatic event. 片語動詞

觸發點包含並映射了一個創傷性事件。

Let's imagine a person who is triggered,

讓我們想像一個被觸發的人，

that is, thrown into powerful despair and self-loathing by images on social media

也就是說，被社群媒體上的圖像陷入了強烈的絕望和自我厭惡之中，

of blatantly attractive and popular people.

那些圖像上是公認的有魅力且受歡迎的人。

No sooner have they seen these 文法

他們一看到這些，

than they start to doubt and despise themselves,

就開始懷疑和鄙視自己，

reflect on their inadequacies,

反思自己的不足，

and remember all the reasons why they are fated to be a failure and unloved.

並想起所有他們注定要成為失敗者和不被愛的理由。

The trigger is not entirely nothing. 文法

觸發點並不完全是空穴來風。

There is something a little bit dispiriting

確實有一些讓人氣餒的東西，

about the beauty parade on certain sorts of social media. 慣用語

在某些社群媒體上的選美狂歡中。

But,

但是，

the point at issue 片語搭配

問題的關鍵在於

is the scale of the reaction that is generated.

產生的反應的規模。

In seeking to account for it, 片語動詞

在試圖解釋這種反應時，

we've got to look backwards.

我們必須向後看。

The person has been triggered

這個人之所以被觸發，

because the contemporary event contains, in a garbled, disguised, and unconscious form,

是因為當前的事件以一種混亂、偽裝和無意識的形式，

the essence of a profoundly traumatic dynamic in earlier life,

包含了早年生活中極其深刻的創傷動態的本質，

which lies mostly unknown and unexplored,

而這些動態大多不為人知也未被探索，

and thereby commands immense and unending power over the victim. 片語搭配

從而對受害者掌握著巨大且無盡的力量。

Let's suppose that this person had a mother

假設這個人有一個母親，

who favored their more ebullient younger sibling over them, 片語搭配

偏愛他們更開朗的弟弟妹妹而不是他們，

and that their looks were part of what damned them to horrible neglect and emotional coldness.

並且他們的長相部分導致了他們遭到可怕的忽視和情感上的冷漠。

It doesn't, 文法

並不需要，

in the circumstances,

在這種情況下，

take much to be returned back to this bleak place.

費太大力氣就會被帶回這個荒涼的地方。

We are animals who are primed to sniff out in the present 講解

我們是一種動物，時刻準備著在現在嗅出

the slightest sign of the dangers of the past.

過去危險的哪怕最微小的跡象。

The tragedy of triggering 表達脈絡

觸發的悲劇在於，

is that it fails to notice the differences between then and now,

它沒有注意到過去和現在的區別，

between the awfulness we suffered long ago

那些我們很久以前遭受的可怕經歷

and the relative innocence of the modern moment.

與現在這一刻相對的無害之間的區別。

In so far as bad things do happen nowadays, 表達脈絡

儘管現在確實也會發生不好的事情，

triggering also fails to account for the way in which we're no longer children

但觸發也忽略了我們不再是孩子的事實，

and are therefore able to respond to the threats that do come our way with a lot more creativity, 慣用語

因此，對於我們遇到的威脅，我們能夠以更多的創造力、

strength, and calm

力量和平靜來應對，

than we possessed as 4 or 10-year-olds.

遠勝於我們四歲或十歲時所擁有的。

Were things ever to get as bad as they once were, 文法

即便事情變得和以前一樣糟，

we have so many more options than we did,

我們也擁有比過去多得多的選擇，

and therefore so many reasons to feel less agitated and vulnerable.

因此，我們有太多理由不那麼焦躁和脆弱。

To be triggered is to lose our powers of discrimination. 用詞

被觸發就是失去了我們的辨別能力。

In the heat of the moment, 慣用語

在情緒激動的時刻，

we can no longer distinguish between A and B.

我們再也無法區分A和B。

So frightening is A that everything between it and Q is at heart another A. 文法

A是如此可怕，以至於A和Q之間的一切，本質上都是另一個A。

We can't tell that someone is not telling us that we're guilty,

我們無法分辨出別人並沒有說我們有罪，

that the situation isn't evidence of doom,

這種情況並非末日的證據，

that we're not being mocked,

我們沒有被嘲笑，

that our colleague isn't attacking us,

我們的同事並沒有攻擊我們，

that we aren't being reprimanded unbearably,

我們並沒有受到難以忍受的斥責，

that we haven't been told we're an idiot or a monster.

也沒有人說我們是白痴或怪物。

We can't distinguish between looking a bit tired 片語搭配

我們無法區分看起來有點累

and looking fundamentally unacceptable,

和看起來根本讓人無法接受，

between something they've done that got them sent to prison 文法

無法區分他們做了一些被送進監獄的事

and something that we've done that won't ever be noticed.

和我們做了一些永遠不會被注意到的事。

So primed has our history made us to appalling scenarios,

我們的歷史讓我們對可怕的場景如此敏感，

we have no ability not to refind them at every turn,

以至於我們在每個轉角都無法不重新發現它們，

especially when we're a bit low or a bit tired. 用詞

尤其是當我們情緒低落或有點疲憊時。

Though we might assume that we'd want to escape our triggers,

雖然我們可能認為自己想要逃離觸發點，

we are also often drawn to them 片語搭配

但我們經常被它們吸引，

through a compulsive sense of familiarity.

出於一種強迫性的熟悉感。

Calm and confidence aren't our resting places. 慣用語

平靜和自信並不是我們棲息的地方。

They don't feel normal

它們讓人感覺不正常，

and are therefore worrying in their own way.

因此以它們自己的方式讓人擔憂。

We want our awful hunches confirmed.

我們希望自己可怕的預感得到證實。

It can feel right to put ourselves in environments

把自己置身於以下環境中會感覺很對味：

where people might be mocking,

在那裡人們可能會嘲笑別人，

to look out for stories of disgrace or ruin, 片語動詞

去尋找恥辱或毀滅的故事，

or to befriend people who are constantly on the edge of harming us.

或結交那些經常處於傷害我們邊緣的人。

The cure for triggering

治療觸發的良藥

is love.

是愛。

Love understood as a process of patiently holding someone 表達脈絡

將愛理解為一種耐心地擁抱某人的過程，

and,

並且，

like a kindly and soothing parent,

就像一位慈愛且安撫人心的父母一樣，

helping them to discriminate between black and white,

幫助他們區分黑與白、

terror and calm,

恐懼與平靜、

evil and goodness.

邪惡與善良。

The cure lies, too, in learning how to work backwards from our current triggers 片語搭配

治療還在於學習如何從當前的觸發點倒推，

to understanding the dynamics that once created them.

去理解曾經造成它們的動態機制。

Rather than worrying yet again about the future, 文法

我們不應再次擔憂未來，

we should ask ourselves a simple question:

而是應該問自己一個簡單的問題：

What does my fear of what will happen 表達脈絡

我對將會發生的事情的恐懼

tell me about what did happen?

告訴了我關於曾經發生過什麼事情？

What scenario from my past

我過去的什麼場景

is contained in my alarm at the future?

包含在我對未來的警覺中？

To overcome our triggers

克服我們的觸發點，

is to come to navigate the present

就是學會在當下導航，

with all the confidence and excited curiosity

帶著所有的自信和興奮的好奇心，

that should have been ours from the start. 文法

那本來從一開始就應該屬於我們。

And maturity could be defined as knowing what triggers us and why,

而成熟可以定義為知道是什麼觸發了我們以及為什麼，

and a commitment to dampening our first responses 片語搭配

並致力於抑制我們的第一反應，

in the name of a patient exploration 慣用語

以耐心探索的名義，

and understanding of our own histories.

去理解我們自己的歷史。