Fronting Triggers

Written by Samuel Vibe

I was triggered to front today when Ashton was trying to pull me to co-consciousness by playing jazz. Rather than just being pulled to co-con, however, we felt a shift, and realized I might have just been triggered to front.

Triggers are stimuli that cause, or trigger something to happen. Triggers may be used within trauma contexts to mean triggers that may cause flashbacks and other negative reactions or remind someone of their traumatic experiences, but fronting triggers (often simply referred to as triggers in plural contexts) are triggers that pull a system member to front. This could be something a member likes (in my case, I really like jazz, and was triggered to front by it), something that indicates that the member is needed in front (especially if they're a protector), or even just random stimuli that is otherwise associated with the member in some way. Most traumagenic systems have triggers, but any system, regardless of origin or type, can have fronting triggers or lack them.

Triggers are often separated into two categories: positive and negative. Positive front triggers often come in the form of things that a system member likes and are often utilized by systems to pull a member into front. Negative front triggers may be correlated with trauma and/or cause distress to a member when they are triggered to front using a negative front trigger. Most systems avoid exposing themselves to negative front triggers as much as possible.

Some systems may share their front triggers with you. This does not mean that you should trigger people to front using those triggers just because you want to. Those systems are placing trust in your hands to use front triggers when they need you to, such as to trigger out someone more capable of handling something that's happening in front.