PTSD is ultimately an issue of trying to resolve an experience that has been incompletely processed by the mind and body because survival (physical, emotional or both) demanded that processing it be put aside… and parts of the experience shoved out of awareness. Triggers are things closely related to that unprocessed experience that recalls that experience and brings up that experience in the mind and body. Triggers can be as random as certain smells, or as simple as certain sounds. What one would often think should be triggering often isn’t, and what shouldn’t be triggering often is.