How do I identify a trigger?

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.