How do I identify a trigger?

A trigger could really be anything that reminds you of something that might have hurt you or still hurts you.

How do I identify a trigger? We suffer from emotional triggers for three main reasons: Opposing beliefs and values– When we are strongly identified with a certain belief, we may find it hard to be tolerant of other opposing beliefs. For example, there’s a reason why religion is such a triggering topic for so many people: beliefs give us a sense of safety and comfort, and when they are challenged, we feel (from an emotional and psychological standpoint) like our lives are being put in danger. Values stem from beliefs and involve what we hold as important in life. When another person disagrees or challenges our values, we get triggered because they are calling into question the truth and legitimacy of what we hold dear. Trauma – Getting “triggered” is a term that traces back to the experiences of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often experienced by soldiers coming back from the war. When we are triggered due to past traumatic experiences, our reaction is often extreme fear and panic (or in some cases, anger). We get triggered when we see, hear, taste, touch, or smell something that reminds us of the previous traumatic circumstance. For example, a rape victim might be triggered when she sees men with Mustache because her abuser also had a mustache. A man who was assaulted by his alcoholic mother as a child might be triggered whenever he smells alcohol. An adult who never fit in as a child may feel triggered when seeing groups of people have fun. Ego preservation – The ego is the sense of self or “I” we carry around. This artificial identity that we carry is composed of thoughts, memories, cultural values, assumptions, and belief structures that we have developed in order to fit into society (read more about the ego). We all have an ego and its primary purpose is to protect us by developing elaborate “self-protection” mechanisms in the form of beliefs, ideals, desires, habits, and addictions (in order to prevent us from facing what we fear the most: the death of ego or self). When our egos are challenged or hurt by others, we are prone to becoming triggered – immediately. We will argue, insult, belittle, defame, backstab, sabotage, assault, and even murder (in extreme circumstances) people who pose a threat to our ego’s survival. The only way to be liberated from our egos, to experience permanent ego death, is to do some deep inner work, or soul searching. #experienced also I can identify triggers by realizing that changes occur right away, for example a change in voice, a change in body shaking, facial expression, or I can even faint or cry when around an object, person, or atmosphere, which is the triggers. Thankyou.

It can be useful to start to keep what can be referred to as a trigger diary, what were you doing prior to being triggered, what were you feeling prior to being triggered, what was was the trigger if you can identify what the trigger was (some people cant), what were you experiencing during the trigger |(all senses), how did you manage the trigger, what thoughts did you have about yourself during and after the trigger

I suspect I got triggered by something when I experience a sudden strong emotional wave (sadness, irritation or fear). Analyzing the situation and acknowledging what might associate to a past experience helps a little bit to accept the reaction going through

Triggers differ from person to person, and it can be hard to figure out which subject triggers us! What I've done in the past is kept a log for when something came up that made me feel strongly sad or angry, and I have identified triggers that way. In the future, I can steer conversations in a more positive direction, or get out of the conversation before I go too far, emotionally!

A trigger is more than just being uncomfortable and simply remembering something you've experienced. Memories come up all the time. It's when the topic or thing gives you anxiety, often to the point of panic, and gives you true flash backs of what has happened in the past. A true flash back feels as real or almost as real as being in the situation again, even though you are not.

From my experience, some triggers are hard to identify. You can look for telltale signs of discomfort, such as fidgeting, looking at the floor, not making eye contact, twitching, etc. Some other signs are uncalled for anger or sadness, defensive postures, such as crossing the arms, and abruptly ending the conversation, or changing the subject. Facial expressions can also be a give away. I have PTSD myself, and I am still finding triggers, and sometimes I have no reaction until later when I'm having a panic attack and I don't know why. I have to think back on my day and try to find what triggered it. Hope this helps!

Think back to times you have flashbacks, what emotions started it. What happened right before? Those are your triggers. For example, if your family is arguing, and it causes a flashback, think back and pinpoint if it was the volume, the anger, or even a specific word or sound.

If you start to feel that something someone has said has effected you that can be a trigger. It does not have to be something massive, anything can trigger anyone so we have to watch what we say to others!

Keep a diary of your life and logs then mood chart and see if there is link between certain events and mood, thoughts and feelings. Try to be in touch with your feelings and your thoughts/reactions to things. Triggers are things that make it harder to he rational or ground yourself so if you feel less grounded and less rational there may be a trigger at play. Sometimes working out your trauma will help you recognise what your triggers are. A good idea is to work out coping mechanisms for self care and grounding techniques to help you in life

Triggers are things that inform us we're in facing trouble. Triggers can be a smell or a sound. They can be words, or simple a tone-of-voice. Knowing your triggers help you to make healthy choices or at least, move away from those that are potentially injurious. Identifying triggers entail asking yourself the following question: "Why did I make that unhealthy choice?" The answer might be that certain people, places and things "trigger" certain responses. The AA model encourages its followers to avoid such situations. Knowing ourselves and what "sets us off" is knowing your triggers. Identifying our triggers entails self-knowledge and a concern for our well-being.

Awareness is key, if you are feeling anything that makes you anxious, depressed, or a feeling that is provoking of another feeling this is a trigger. I used to be triggered by any talk of death. I had this huge fear of death so if people were talking about anything related to it or news even I would start looking at is as a trigger. I overcame it after awhile but it truly was something that made me feel awful. Another trigger of mine was grocery lines and even driving which were triggers for panic attacks. I found that the wait in line to check out was a place I could start my what if's. I chose to go at times where I knew there was no line and its was much easier. I broke all of this down piece by piece and found that it wasn't the grocery store so much but the what if's that were in my head. Once I overcame the parts of the triggers that were deeper I learned that the trigger was nothing. Same thing as a negative trigger we cannot forget our positive triggers. One of mine is the beach's this provokes a slow down for me and a peacefulness inside. I truly believe the ions have much to do with the good feeling we get from the beach but it also became a positive trigger to m are me slow down and think about the waves and a good distraction imaging to calm my depression and fears. Triggers are the reaction to what is happening to create another reaction both positive and negative, I always tell my clients to journal what was happening when they have anxiety and where they were, how they felt, this can sometimes help identify what is a true trigger and what is a perceived trigger and how to overcome and break them down so they don't interfere with our well being.

I understand what you are going through. Things like this can be so tough! Identifying triggers can be a very helpful thing to do, and how to cope with things. Triggers are things that can literally trigger you. To figure them out you can try to keep a journal, anytime you feel and urge, or something, write it down, and write a couple of things that had just happened before that. After a while, you can look at these and observe some patterns in behaviour! From here you can figure out a pattern, and try to avoid whatever is triggering you!

hmmmm i feel its different for everyone, but for me personally a trigger is something that makes me feel a certain emotion. Example, for me certain songs are triggering, they can make me disassociate, cry, get mad, etc. I also have things that trigger other things, like tics. If i get really excited, or if someone gets really close to me i might start ticking. But please remember that all triggers are valid, if they make you feel a certain way, just because they dont make another person feel that way, doesnt mean they are dumb or invalid. so if you feel something makes you really upset when you talk about it, see it, etc. than you might be triggered by it. i hope this helps and if you need to reach out please feel free to message me ! much love, Bum

Hello, from my experiences with identifying triggers is once I get a feeling after interacting with a person place, or thing that reminds me of another place in time it takes me back to that same old negative or positive experience and mentally I am back at that place with the same feeling as though it is happening at that very same time. The feelings are real and the reaction is the same but I must remind myself that this is only a feeling, not a reality. It can be overwhelming but I must be put in it's proper place.

If you feel panicky, frozen, sad or any other similarly uncomfortable emotion around specific circumstances then you are probably experiencing a trigger. A trigger could be a sound, a smell, someone's tone of voice, a place, a person, and really anything that evokes the same emotional response out of you. Once that happens the person usually stops responding to the present circumstances and falls into some kind of defense mechanism or learnt response that kept them safe in some way in the past. That could be freezing, attacking, hiding away, crying, shouting, whatever it is that may have worked in some way in the past. So a good way to identify a trigger is to pay attention to yourself. What do you feel? When do you feel it? Who is there? How do you respond? How consistent is it? etc.

Triggers are tricky to identify! It's a skill that anyone can learn though. For me, I had to slow down. Meditation and self-care were the first steps on the pathway to identifying my triggers. When I was anxious or triggered before, I only became aware of the anxiety, because I hadn't slowed down to be mindfully looking for the thought that preceded it. Over time, and being mindful and reflective of what was happening and what I was thinking prior to anxiety hitting, I became aware of a pattern. Anxiety came after a similar thought every time. Then I started to be able to identify the trigger thought and slow down and mindfully and with self-compassion, reassess the trigger and let it go, before the anxiety hit with it. I needed to be very gentle with myself and be my own friend, even when I didn't want to be. One step at a time, I continue to take care of my complex mind by slowing down to be able to see and rethink damaging thoughts before they have such a deep impact.