- Carolyn Lee Downes
- Apr 24
- 5 min read
“Triggers of complex trauma can taste like nostalgia—before the emotional reflux hits.”

When we think of trauma triggers, we usually picture one thing: an immediate, recognizable event that sets off a cascade of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. But for many of us—especially those with complex, developmental, or attachment trauma—triggers can creep up more slowly. They show up in fragments. In symbols. In waves of “why am I thinking about this?”
They can look like a doll.
Or a trend.
Or even… ChatGPT.
Event-Based vs. Episodic Triggers: A Quick Breakdown
As trauma therapists, we often use the terms event-based and episodic to describe how trauma originated. But those same terms can be useful in describing how we get triggered.
Event-Based Triggering feels like one moment—a specific detail or new experience that sets off alarm bells.
Episodic Triggering, however, is more like a buildup. A drip feed of associations, symbols, or moments that don’t scream trauma—until they do.
I’ve been living through one of those episodic triggers over the past few weeks.
The Trigger Trail: From Barbie Nostalgia to ChatGPT AI Dolls
1. Odette the Baby + Barbie the Ballerina
I met an adorable baby named Odette—immediately sparking memories of my favorite Barbie from childhood: Barbie of Swan Lake. I smiled, remembering how deeply I loved my dolls, dress-up sets, and Sky Dancers. Later that night, I found myself googling old toy photos. I felt warm. Loved. Connected.
That was the start.
2. Enter the ChatGPT ‘Action Figure’ Trend
A few days later, this viral “starter pack” trend where people create AI-generated action figures of themselves using ChatGPT pops into my head. As a therapist and genernal human with past trauma I got this inner cringe feeling I probably should've listened too. As a creator, I thought: nostalgic, clever, ehhh why not. So I tried it.
What I got was well, ehhhh check it out ↓
Not because of my body image insecurity history. But because it felt like the AI refused to render my biracial features accurately. No matter how many words I added to the prompt, the dolls looked like generic approximations—whitewashed, aged, distorted, or just… not me.
The AI couldn’t see me.
And it reminded me of all the times the world hadn’t either.
3. The Barbie AI Prompt (And the Emotional Collapse)
Still determined, I changed the prompt: Make me a Barbie.
And there it was. Nostalgia met disappointment. Again.
The doll was taller. Paler. Still not smiling. And it felt like the present had caught up to the past: the childhood me who had searched souvenir shops for my name, googled diverse dolls, and tried to feel “seen” by toys that were never made with girls like me in mind.
It reminded me that I’d always had to assemble belonging from mismatched parts or beg my parents for immensely overpriced dolls that weren't me either, but in the least, represented idealized version of myself that made sense for me to realistically want to explore.
4. The Expected Tipping Point: Mattel’s ‘You Create Barbie’

Mattel recently launched a “You Create Barbie” series. I thought: Finally.
But the kits cost $100. They come with 3 body types and 3 head shapes. Still, none looked like me—or like any of the multiracial clients I see in therapy.
Not to be insensitive, but all we really saw was a limited variety of overpriced body parts, in three color options (1 in each kit), with facial features that appeared 'Caucasian looking,' 'Black looking,' and 'Asian looking,' without any real mixed-race looking features.
Once again: hope, then dismay. Curiosity, then grief. The build of a slow, episodic trigger reaching its tipping point... but not just there.
Marketing Nostalgia to the Already-Wounded
Here’s the hard truth: nostalgic marketing works, because it pulls at your inner child. But for multiracial Millennials and Gen Zs healing from representation & non-belonging wounds, it can also reopen them.
The AI doll trend and Barbie nostalgia campaigns aren’t just cute—they’re triggering of feeling we either did or did not have growing up.
We’re not just watching a trend. We’re reliving a lifetime of subtle exclusions, disappointments, and messages that whisper:
“You don’t belong in any group, despite options.”
“You’re too complicated for representation, when there's little in it for us."
“You’re desire for belonging is basically an inconvenience to the rest of us.”
The Final Straw of my Trigger Trail
5. My Actual Tipping Point: Belonging in the Mental Health Field
To make matters worse, I recently found out I’m not eligible for a multi-state licensure compact as a therapist without jumping through more hoops despite being a licensed and practicing professional for over 3 years in 4 states, having a paid for and completed 5th state application, only to be told after turning everything in that my specific circumstance made me ineligible, and a 6th state (NJ, to where we are soon moving) that would require me to take another $100+ exam and time to legitimately study because its one of those...
Yet another reminder of how belonging is often conditional—for professionals too.
Closing Thoughts on this AI Doll Trend, Barbie, & Slowly Building Triggers of Complex Trauma
This wasn’t a single moment of complex traumatic beliefs being triggered. It was a slow collection of symbols, disappointments, and reminders that built into something heavy.
Dear reader, I'm A Complex Trauma Therapist that gets it...
This is a personal qualm, but it illustrates why Complex Trauma is harder to conceptualize than it's event-based counterparts: convoluted learning and memory associations contributing to sources of trauma, trails of triggers in addition to specific ones, and potentially, similar-looking trauma responses, but each with more complicated origins than "this one time when..."
On this AI doll trend and Nostalgic marketing though: I'd be careful, especially if you're someone whose experienced aspects of complex trauma involving unresolved feelings of non-belonging and consequential wounds to your sense of self and/or control.
In all reality, what might be intended to trigger pleasant nostalgic feelings for most, might end up reawakening patterns within our own internal AI (i.e. adaptive information) processing systems that might require some healthy reprocessing first.
If you’re someone whose felt triggered by the AI Doll Trend, gets triggered thinking about traditional symbols of childhood nostalgia (e.g. Barbie or otherwise), you might be experiencing subtle triggers of complex trauma. Regardless of the specifics of your situation, remember this:
You’re not being “too sensitive.”
You’re being triggered episodically, not necessarily specifically.
You deserve to name that & feel seen.
YOUR right therapist is waiting to meet you when you're ready.
Have You Noticed the Slow Burn of Triggers, Too?
Let’s talk about it. Whether you’re a therapist, creative, or just someone tired of not being seen—your experiences matter. And these slow-burn triggers? They count, even when no one else notices.
Oo,
Carolyn, EMDR-Certified Complex Trauma Therapist
Me ↓
