When a person has a mental health diagnosis, it is important for them to become familiar with their triggers and to learn how to handle them, so that they aren’t blindsided by big, unpleasant reactions. At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health in Charleston, West Virginia, we are a leading provider of behavioral healthcare services throughout our region. We work hard to ensure our patients and their families know how to manage triggers that could create disruptions in their lives.
Knowing Your Triggers
Any action or situation that creates a difficult emotion can be considered a trigger. When it comes to mental illness, a trigger typically means something that makes your symptoms worse. If you’re not sure what your triggers might be, start asking yourself what happened immediately before you started feeling:
- Attacked
- Blamed
- Controlled
- Disrespected
- Hurt
- Judged
- Overwhelmed
- Powerless
- Scared
- Unloved
- Weak
- Tense
What made you feel that way? Do you often feel difficult emotions after a similar experience? How are you inclined to react when you have this type of feeling? Why do you think that this experience makes you feel so strongly? Write all of this down to consult the next time you’re feeling upset, to see if any patterns emerge
- Objects: Items that were part of something difficult or remind you of something difficult
- Places: Somewhere bad things happened
- People: Ones who hurt you or remind you of people who hurt you
- Events: Doing something you were doing at the time of a bad experience
- Sounds: Noises you associate with a difficult experience
- Smells: Any scent that reminds you of a bad thing
- Emotions: Fear, sadness, anger, pain, etc.
- Flavors: Something you ate often at that time or were eating at a specific moment
- Physical sensations: Your body feeling similar things
- Weather: If it rained on a bad day or snowed or was really hot
- Times of the day or year: Whatever most strongly associates with the memory
Managing Triggers
Once you know what your triggers are, you then get to choose what you want to do with them, such as:
- Avoiding the trigger: If your trigger is something you can remove from your life, such as following the news or being around a person who has abused you, you might decide not to allow that trigger into your life anymore.
- Distract yourself: Some stressors go away on their own, and you just need to manage yourself until it passes.
- Delegating the stressor: Sometimes a trigger must be confronted, but you are able to hand off responsibility to another person.
- Getting support: If it is not possible to entirely avoid the trigger, then it may be helpful to have a friend or family member with you as you move through a triggering situation.
- Preparing yourself: If you know a trigger is coming your way, you may be able to utilize self-care and emotional management techniques to get through it.
- Communicating openly: If another person is doing something you find triggering, you may be able to address the behavior with them and ask them to stop.
- Addressing it in therapy: A therapist might be able to help you move through whatever is triggering you, so that it no longer elicits a stress response.
No Bad Emotions
It may also be helpful to remind yourself that your feelings are valid and there is no such thing as a bad or wrong emotion. Some people are taught that they are not allowed to be angry, but anger makes sense in some cases. It’s not wrong to feel that emotion. What matters is how you express what you’re feeling. If you find yourself screaming, throwing things, or hitting people when you are angry, then that is a problem.
How can you learn to manage your anger better?
- Take slow, deep breaths from your gut.
- Slowly repeat a word that helps you remember to relax and stay calm.
- Imagine a relaxing setting like a lake, a forest, or your favorite place
- Use slow yoga-like movements to relax your muscles
- Try to use your anger to power your problem-solving skills
- Picture something humorous to help you move through the angry feelings
- Step out of the situation for a bit
At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health, we have the honor of working with some very brave clients who have experienced unbelievably challenging things. We offer trauma-informed and evidence-based care that is tailored to the unique needs of each patient we serve.
