Manage Your Triggers With Success
Movies, words, songs, the news, a time of year, TV shows, books, the school environment, stress, the way someone is looking at you, and even certain clothing can all be triggers to throw you back into a moment or multiple moments you’d rather forget. Certain triggers can occur for anyone who has experienced a trauma in his or her life. If you’ve been to war, sexually assaulted, abused, or have encountered any other traumatic event, you’ll most likely find yourself experiencing trauma triggers. A trauma trigger is when a person recalls a traumatic, frightening, and intense memory due to something superficial or indirectly bringing up a memory. You might be completely fine one moment and then a trigger makes you re-experience a traumatic event and you don’t know how to deal with it.
By identifying positive ways to deal with triggers, you’ll be able to work through the repressed memories or traumatic event. As you work through identifying and dealing with triggers, consider investing your time into therapy. After a traumatic event it’s best to go to therapy and deal with the issue at hand. Triggers are usually linked to repressed memories and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Don’t let the event or events in your past rule your future. Contact a therapist today.
Two Ways To Manage Triggers
Having a traumatic trigger occur at work or school is scary. You don’t know how to deal with the things being thrown your way and you aren’t sure how to react. At work, you’re surrounded by coworkers and you feel angry and defensive when a trigger occurs, so you don’t know what to do. When you’re at school you can’t very well leave class when a teacher puts on a movie about rape or you’re reading a book about war. Instead of getting angry, defensive, or sad, at work or school face the trigger head on with these two ways to manage triggers in your life. If you are facing triggers and can’t seem to deal with them, try coming to see a therapist and experience psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, or cognitive processing therapy to overcome your past. It’s never too late to get help.
Recognize Your Emotions
When something terrible happens to us our brain can go on the defensive. We’re able to rationalize what happened and try to make sense of it. When a trigger occurs instead of rationalizing the event, trying to bury your feelings, or ignoring the signs, recognize what’s happening to you. For instance, if a word or a book activates a trigger, stop and pause for a moment. Ask yourself what you’re feeling, why you’re feeling it, and what caused it. Instead of hiding behind your emotions, become aware of them and determine why you’re feeling what you’re feeling. Remember to not fear your emotions and instead embrace them and recognize them for what they are. After all, you can’t help the way you feel.
Choose How You Feel And How You React
Nothing comes easily, especially identifying emotional triggers and dealing with them. Some things can never be forgotten as much as we wish they could be. However, you can ease your pain by identifying why you feel the way you do and what triggered your emotions. Instead of becoming angry, scared, or sad ask yourself why do you feel the way you do? Are you taking this personally? If you feel too out of control, walk away, take a breathe and count down from 10. Make an active decision to feel and react differently.
For more information on therapy, call today.
