

Are Trauma Triggers Ruining Your Writing Life? Here's What to Do
If you’ve ever sat down to write about a tough experience, only to find yourself avoiding the page, feeling emotionally wrecked, or questioning whether you should even be writing this story—you are not alone. Writing about trauma can be healing, but it can also trigger us in ways we don’t expect. Today, we’re going to unpack this. We’ll talk about what trauma triggers really are, how they show up on the page and inside us, and—most importantly—what you can do to navigate them so your writing process supports your well-being rather than working against it.
Episode Highlights
- 4:30: Trauma Triggers
- 6:16: Types of Triggers
- 9:08: What Triggers Look Like On the Page
- 12:24: Trauma Triage and Self-Care
- 15:43: Two Powerful Journal Prompts
- 19:17: How Choices Empower You
Resources for this Episode:
- HuffPost Essay on Emotional Flashbacks
- Get Your Copy of Write More, Fret Less
- Watch my Building a Resilient Writing Practice Series
- Jacob Nordby Episode: The Creative Cure for Writers
- Jessica Buchanan Episode: From Captivity to Clarity
- Seeking Wisdom by Julia Cameron
Lisa’s Bio: Lisa is a writer, speaker, trauma-informed writing coach, and host of the Writing Your Resilience podcast. Her writing and work live at the intersection of healing and creativity, and she combines her experiences with Complex PTSD and suicide with her clinical training and storytelling expertise to help writers tell stories that transform lives, especially their own. Her work has been featured in Risk!, The New York Times, HuffPost, and Kenyon Review Online, among others.
Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Write More, Fret Less
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Free Your Writing Voice, Fuel Your Motivation is a 12-week course designed to help you reconnect with the creative spark that brought you to the page in the first place. https://lisacooperellison.com/free-your-writing-voice-find-your-motivation/
Produced by Espresso Podcast Production