JayDee
Almost three years ago while in hospital trying to die from a massive infection my heart rate wouldn't go down so they put me into a coma to work on it. They would bring me partially out of it to check vitals. Never quite surfacing. During one of these I sang a love song very well to my then girl friend. I don't remember doing it or the words to the song but the ICU nurse said I did. I don't remember those three days but then Coma's are like mini deaths.
My point is that anything in memory is available and everything is in memory even if it is so far buried it is hard to find.
But as you have noticed negatives do pop up too easy. People do want to help but if they don't know how they can make it worse. Also because survival skills are negative you will see the negative first and if there is a buried negative you have suppressed it will pop up as you have seen. This trigger as you have described can only be experienced and understood by some one who has experienced it.
I like your visualization because it supplies answers and answers are what you want. You quilt right, did you use a needle to pop them. That would be the pleasant positive you would use. When ever possible use a positive to remove the negative. Shari used to see her anxiety as dragons of all different colours and chain them up so they could exist but not reach her. Another person used to see them as dogs and turn them into puppies because she liked dogs. Liking dogs was the positive. Hating dogs would not have worked. Shari liked dragons see.
Now some are going to say this is only a distraction but it isn't. Because you are using a positive to counter a negative you are actually changing thought patterns.
If you can say no this is good because you realize that no matter if the trigger is external the reaction is internal (comes from your memory) so you are the one who has to change it. There are times when a cup of tea does more good than a hug.
Associated memory can be so fast there isn't time to say "no this isn't the answer". Writing can help. But mostly grabbing a thought even a wrong one and stopping it can slow down the other thoughts. It will also condition you to stop them rather than let them recycle.
It is good that you post these things because few people understand what is happening or how to deal with it. There are a lot more people reading than posting so you will never know how many people use your techniques or are helped. Accomplishment is a positive even if you don't know you are doing it.
Passive/aggressive is a condition where a person suppressed something to keep from rocking the boat till it happens too often or pops up again as it did in associated memory. This is why they mention being assertive. Now this doesn't mean rocking the boat. You can be assertive with yourself, not accepting the aggressive feeling you have to a situation. This works if you can't talk out the problem.
I think you are doing very well with CBT and it will only get better.
Davit.