Learning to bother identify and manage triggers for your mental health is by far one of the most significant and helpful steps you can take in reaching remission and preventing relapse. Granted, identifying triggers will be an ongoing process and these can change, decrease or increase from time to time, however it is important to acknowledge these as you experience them.
As you begin to pinpoint your triggers, it will be just as imperative for you to distinguish which are ones you can avoid or change and which ones you will need to work on with a specialist. Ensure that while you are making these classifications, however, you are using your Wise Mind (see; DBT: Wise Mind)
A trigger can be absolutely anything, as these are highly personalized. You will first want to identify those that have the largest impact on you, as these are the ones you will want to address first.
Common triggers in mental health often include certain people, personalities, places, environments, smells, dates, alcohol, stress, activities, topics of conversation, or being subject to certain media outlets such as a particular photo, or movie. Of course these are only a few examples. Triggers normally attach themselves to memories, feelings, traumas and addictions and have the power to escalate very quickly which is why learning about your triggers is imperative to your overall health.
In my own case, I have found that certain work environments act as a major trigger to my clinical Major Depression, and since work environment is ultimately something that can be changed, I understand that I need to be careful as per which environments I subject myself to.
Large crowds or abandonment, however, are two triggers in which I cannot always avoid, and so these are ones in which my own therapy has needed to addressed so that skill sets can be acquired and practiced accordingly.
Doing so means also determining what about that situation in particular causes it to be considered a trigger for you; Is it the way it makes you feel? Does it induce an anxiety attack? Does it bring back a traumatic experience? This will be something you and your medical team can work on after limiting the triggers by eliminating ones that are able to be eliminated.
Learning your triggers and how to manage them puts you in a better position to care for yourself and prevent relapse; Thus, I encourage you to take a few moments as often as needed, and reflect upon what your triggers are. After all, no trigger is worth the risk of your health!
Alycia
