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Key points
- When an individual says they are "triggered," they typically mean that stimuli brought on or worsened symptoms related to their mental health.
- To find peace with these stressors, you need to find an equilibrium between being informed and active but also taking a time-out so you can rest.
- Engage in solutions such using as healthy distraction in a non-judgmental fashion.
Have you ever suddenly felt emotionally stressed because of something you saw on the news, in the media, or in real life?
A trigger or stressor is anything that can lead to a negative emotional reaction. When someone says they are “triggered,” what they usually mean is that something suddenly brought on symptoms related to their mental health, such as a worsened mood, anxiety, PTSD, and more.
Triggers are often connected to trauma. Vicarious trauma relates to stressors that are directed and witnessed by others. There are also related types of trauma, which include types of minority stress like those related to race, sexuality, gender, and religion. These sorts of trauma describe the chronically high levels of stress faced by members of oppressed groups due to the mutual experiences of bias, prejudice, discrimination, and hate crimes. You can also have intergenerational trauma, which is trauma transferred from one generation to the next. These traumas can be related to systematic issues like racism or personal traumas like domestic violence or child sexual abuse.
Some of the effects of trauma that you might experience include fear, hypervigilance, depression, anger, loneliness, memory problems, headaches, insomnia, body aches, decreased self-esteem, hopelessness, and feelings of shame or guilt.
So what can we do about all of this? I wish I could say that the world would be a drastically better place tomorrow, but that’s unlikely. That scope of change generally takes time.
If your plan is to lessen the effects of triggers you currently have, you have to pace yourself and listen to your limits around these types of events. You have to find the balance between being informed and being active when facing the world’s stressors and force yourself to take time out to rest. Here are a few ways to empower yourself against emotional triggers.
Enforce limits.
Know your limits, and don’t judge yourself for adhering to them. Remind yourself that it is acceptable to take a break, and doing so does not mean that you are abandoning the situation. Set a time limit that seems reasonable to you to use a distraction (this can range from minutes to days depending on the situation). Sometimes we think we don’t deserve a break because so much is happening in the world—when, in fact, that is exactly why you need to take one. I tell my patients it’s OK to take a break because, unfortunately, the world will still be horrible tomorrow.
Create a mental barrier.
Create a mental barrier between yourself and the distressing event. This can be done internally and externally. Internal barriers involve mentally removing yourself from the triggering event. You can build an imaginary brick wall inside your mind between yourself and it. Imagine setting a timer before you’re allowed to acknowledge the stressful situation.
External ways of creating a mental barrier include temporarily ignoring individuals or media sources that increase stress. Our minds, hearts, and bodies need to rest and recover from all the stimuli we consume on a daily basis, especially the stressors!
Engage in purposeful participation.
When you’re experiencing a trigger or even just observing the world around you, it can be easy to feel helpless or hopeless. One of the ways to combat that is to find small ways to give back as often as you can. Seek out purpose—that is where you discover your power. Give back to others in small but meaningful ways. This can be volunteering in your community, helping a friend with something they’ve been struggling with, sharing information about an important cause on social media, or even giving someone a hug.
Embrace other emotions and thoughts.
Do things that replace your negative thoughts and emotions with neutral or opposite ones. This can include trying out new TV shows, reading a book, playing games with your family or friends, or singing a song in your head.
Being triggered brings about a wide range of incredibly negative, exhausting emotions. We need to soothe those emotions by activating other emotions.
Widen your focus.
When we are triggered, the tendency to get stuck on negative thoughts creates an extremely narrow focus and intensifies the pain we are feeling. Having a wider focus invites healthy comparisons, which can allow us to consider the bigger picture. This can include thinking about others who are in similar situations and are coping the same as you are (realizing “I am not alone”), or might be coping worse (realizing “I am not as bad off as I sometimes think”), or might be coping better (realizing “by experiencing this situation, I can improve how well I cope over time”). One easy way to expand your focus is to simply acknowledge the things that went well that day before you fall asleep.
Engage in activities.
Do things that let you disengage from your trauma momentarily. These could be enjoyable activities like getting dinner with a friend or going on a long walk. It can also be more neutral activities like loading your dishwasher or making your weekly grocery list. The point here is to distract your mind through activities so you have time to separate yourself from the trigger.
Regroup or reset.
Evaluate your overall anxiety levels to determine if you’re ready to re-engage with the situation at hand. Think of these as your “low-enough levels.” What number counts as low enough to be ready for this step is largely decided by you, but here are some pointers.
“Low enough” typically does not mean 0/100. Define for yourself where your breaking point is—this is the number where things start to get bad for you fast. Your low enough needs to be below that number. For instance, if your breaking point is 75, then you might determine that your low enough number is anything 50 or below. When you’re ready, regroup and think about problem-solving skills that may be useful in addressing the situation.
If you find that you’re not ready, reset your break timer and come back to the situation later. This approach allows you to take a break without engaging in unhealthy avoidance. And remember: It’s important to not judge how often you need to take breaks.
