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You can think of a trigger as a sticky ball, about the size of a baseball, on the top of a mountain. The ball represents what happened initially that started your emotional reaction. The ball starts to roll down the mountain, going faster and faster down a well-worn path. As it rolls downward, it gets bigger and bigger, picking up negative thoughts and feelings until it is massive. What started as the size of a baseball is now huge, with all kinds of hurtful memories and negative thoughts and feelings stuck to it.
- Warren is a Licensed Master Social Worker, who specializes in substance abuse and mental health treatment.
- Your usual response to this trigger, which is shutting down, usually only makes you feel worse.
- Your therapist can help you figure out your triggers and come up with a plan for how to deal with your PTSD symptoms.
- By Matthew Tull, PhDMatthew Tull, PhD is a professor of psychology at the University of Toledo, specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Not everyone who experiences something potentially traumatic develops residual trauma or triggers.
What Are Internal and External Triggers?
The more strategies you have available to you, the better off you will be in managing your triggers. In addition, the more coping strategies you have, the more likely you will be able to prevent the development of unhealthy coping strategies, such as alcohol and drug use. An internal trigger is something going on inside our minds or bodies that promotes the urge what is internal trigger to relapse. Whereas external triggers are defined as people, places and things; internal triggers generally fall under hunger, anger, loneliness or fatigue. When triggered, the brain might interpret past traumatic events as current. This causes the body to experience symptoms as it did in response to the original trauma (such as the fight-or-flight response).
How to Cope With Triggers
Mental health professionals don’t yet know precisely how triggers form. Some researchers believe that the brain stores memories from a traumatic event differently from memories of a non-traumatic event. However, Mezulis notes that even people without a history of trauma can be triggered when something elicits a strong emotional reaction. Treatments supported by frontline research can drastically decrease the frequency of the effects of triggers — for example, decreasing intrusive memories. These treatments include prolonged exposure (PE) therapy and cognitive processing therapy (CPT). Those who struggle with substance use disorder or alcohol use disorder will sometimes find themselves thinking fondly about past use.
Coping with Triggers in Addiction Recovery
But in the coming posts, I will show you some ways out of the jumble. Today, I want to show you three steps you can take to identify your triggers and start getting out of your negative cycle. Warren is a Licensed Master Social Worker, who specializes in substance abuse and mental health treatment. Clinically, Warren has developed a therapeutic skillset that utilizes a strengths-based perspective, Twelve Step philosophies, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. Maybe you’ve experienced pushback when trying to tell someone you’re feeling triggered.
A 12-step program can be incredibly effective in maintaining sobriety. These programs are designed to hold you accountable and build a strong support system. Experiencing triggers can affect your emotional state and may increase the desire to use substances again.
She has a close group of friends and lives with the love of her life, her dog Catch. At times a friend does something or says something, and she gets triggered. She starts to feel very alone, that no one likes her and that she has no friends. When this happens, she gets depressed and often cancels her plans and curls up in bed alone.
Can You Die from Alcohol Withdrawal?
While experiencing triggers can be stressful, they are temporary. Self-judgment could lead to emotional distress and feelings of guilt, which can be triggers themselves. First, know that experiencing triggers in recovery is not a sign of failure. It is common for people in recovery to face triggers in their journey to wellness. Regularly tracking your emotions in a journal can help you recognize specific patterns, such as emotional triggers and times of greater vulnerability. When it comes to managing emotional triggers, much of the work lies with you.
- Learn to recognize physical signs of reacting to a trigger, such as changes in your breathing, so that you can employ strategies to calm yourself and shift your emotional state.
- You can do this process on your own, but working with a mental health professional can be helpful.
- Though commonly used to refer to the experiences of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the term “trigger” can also be used in the context of other mental health illnesses.
- In these cases, a trigger is anything that prompts an increase in or return of symptoms.
- Triggers bring up intense memories and feelings of using substances.
