Understanding Holiday Stress Through a Trauma-Informed Lens
- marketing426092
- Dec 16, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 5
The holiday season can bring joy, connection, and celebration. However, for many trauma survivors, it also brings overwhelm. As EMDR therapists, I see every year how Seasonal Triggers in EMDR Clients can intensify old memories, activate survival responses, and create unexpected emotional reactions.
The Complexity of Holiday Triggers
This season includes sensory reminders, financial pressure, family dynamics, travel stress, and unresolved grief. Even positive events can activate the nervous system when clients are already stretched thin.
When we understand how seasonal triggers function, we can better support our clients with EMDR-informed strategies, regulation tools, and compassionate case planning.
What Seasonal Triggers Look Like in EMDR Clients
Seasonal triggers in EMDR clients often show up subtly before becoming intense. Clients may not immediately realize why they feel activated, especially if the trigger is sensory or historical.
Common Signs of Seasonal Triggers
Increased anxiety or irritability
Feeling emotionally stuck or shut down
Heightened grief around anniversaries or holidays
Changes in sleep or appetite
Flashbacks or body memories
Shame, guilt, or frustration over family dynamics
Confusion about why they are reacting more strongly than usual
These reactions are not regression. They are nervous system responses to internal and external cues that the brain associates with past experiences.
Understanding the Nervous System During Seasonal Triggers
When clients encounter a seasonal cue, the nervous system responds based on learned associations. Even if clients feel “fine” consciously, their bodies may be reacting to:
Scents that resemble past environments
Holiday music tied to difficult memories
Family pressure or expectations
Financial stress or social obligations
Travel logistics that mimic past chaos
Anniversary dates of traumatic events
The nervous system recognizes patterns before the conscious mind understands them. Seasonal triggers in EMDR clients are the result of implicit memory activation, not personal failure or lack of progress.
Your role is to normalize these responses and offer grounding, containment, and EMDR-informed support.
How to Talk About Seasonal Triggers With Clients
A simple, intentional conversation can reorient clients and reduce shame. Consider asking:
What changes do you notice in your body around the holidays?
Are there sensory cues that feel activating?
How does your family system impact you this time of year?
What responsibilities feel heavy or draining?
What memories or anniversaries come up during this season?
Normalize emotional responses and frame them as nervous system adaptations, not personal shortcomings. This creates safety and prepares clients for deeper EMDR work.
EMDR Focused Interventions for Seasonal Triggers
Below are strategies rooted in EMDR principles that support seasonal triggers in EMDR clients. Therapists can use these during sessions or assign them as intersession support.
1. Strengthen Phase 2 Resources
This is a season to reinforce preparation work. Consider reinforcing:
Safe or calm place
Container exercises
Breath work paired with bilateral stimulation
Future template for boundaries
Self-compassion imagery
These tools create predictability and help clients maintain stability.
2. Use the Floatback to Identify Root Memories
If a seasonal trigger creates a strong emotional reaction, use a float back to explore:
What earlier memory is the emotion connected to?
How old does the client feel in this moment?
What bodily sensations are present?
Floatback helps clients make sense of overwhelming feelings instead of assuming they are “just stressed.”
3. Target Present Triggers With Modified BLS
When the trigger itself is the problem (holiday gatherings, music, scents), you can target:
Current trigger
Associated body sensation
Negative belief activated
Use slow, contained sets. Do not rush processing. Many clients benefit from using the present trigger as a future template opportunity later.
4. Develop Future Templates for Holiday Boundaries
Help clients rehearse:
Saying no
Leaving early
Asking for support
Managing expectations
Planning grounding strategies for events
Future templates provide emotional rehearsal and help clients feel more capable.
5. Increase Intersession Support Tools
Assign tools that reinforce nervous system regulation:
Bilateral music playlists
Tracking holiday stress on the EMDR Therapy Progress Journal
Meditation or breath work
Journaling prompts
Sensory grounding (cold water, texture, scents)
Always create a plan ahead of holiday travel or family gatherings.
Common Mistakes Therapists Make During Seasonal Trigger Work
These mistakes come up often, especially when the season is busy.
Mistake 1: Rushing into processing
Seasonal overwhelm makes clients more vulnerable. Slow down.
Mistake 2: Assuming clients “should be able to handle it”
Holidays increase sensory load and reduce coping capacity.
Mistake 3: Over focusing on content instead of body signals
Somatic cues often reveal more than the narrative.
Mistake 4: Forgetting to adjust pacing
Shorter sessions, containment work, and extra preparation may be necessary.
Mistake 5: Ignoring your own seasonal stress
Therapists also experience holiday activation. Notice and regulate before sessions.
When you address these challenges, your seasonal work becomes much more effective and attuned.
Introducing Dana Carretta Stein, LMHC
Dana Carretta Stein, LMHC is a Licensed EMDRIA Approved Consultant, EMDR therapist, and founder of The EMDR Coach. She supports therapists with grounded, neuroscience-informed consultation, business coaching, and practical EMDR tools. Dana is known for her direct, validating, and accessible teaching style that helps clinicians build confidence without burnout.
About The EMDR Coach
The EMDR Coach offers consultation, EMDR resources, and therapist business support designed to help clinicians grow confidently and sustainably. Every resource is built on trauma-informed care, nervous system science, and real-world clinical experience.
Product Highlight: EMDR Therapy Progress Journal
The EMDR Therapy Progress Journal helps clients track symptoms, understand EMDR phases, and stay connected to the therapy process between sessions. It is especially helpful during seasons when triggers increase and clients benefit from structure.
PLMHC Section for Therapy Seekers
If you are reading this as someone looking for trauma-informed support, Peaceful Living Mental Health Counseling (PLMHC) offers gentle, evidence-based therapy for children, teens, and adults. Our clinicians specialize in EMDR, trauma recovery, anxiety, and nervous system regulation. We offer in-person sessions in Scarsdale and virtual sessions throughout NY, NJ, CT, and FL.
Our approach centers on safety and collaboration. Nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you, and healing happens with the right support. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation.
Read Relevant EMDR Coach Blogs
Here are three posts that complement the topic of seasonal triggers:
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