Traumatic memories can be triggered by any cues that resemble or symbolize the trauma, of associative conditioning that leads to anxiety and hypervigilance for such cues.

The traumatic recollections can occur in many neutral circumstances, otherwise neutral cues can trigger intrusions, which increases the pressure to be vigilant for diverse cues.

These hyperarousal states can engage sensory and action processes that bypass cognitive appraisal processes.

The intensity of the experience leave strong, sensory, affective and action memory traces that are particular to the traumatic experience.

The circumstances of a trauma may be common, but d threatening traumatic event can leave primary sensory, vivid snapshots of experience. Snapshots may be fragmented, as hyper-arousal distorts perceptions during traumatic incidents.

Split-second perception can make the difference between life and death in traumatic situations. These fast perceptions and actions may be difficult to code into coherent episodic memories.

These elements of traumatic experience are not easily translated into linguistic narratives, which usually require coherent causal relations among perceptions.

Traumatic memories may continue to overwhelm normal cognitive states, which can perpetuate the fragmentation of traumatic cognitions.

Any activation of associations into your trauma schema can prompt you to slip into a traumatic awareness wherein it is more likely you will interpret current experiences in relation to your trauma.