When stress levels rise, the brain’s prefrontal cortex, responsible for cognitive control and stress regulation, is inhibited, making it harder to manage impulses and make informed decisions. By Matthew Tull, PhDMatthew Tull, PhD is a professor of psychology at the University of Toledo, specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder. When it comes to making changes to your life to remove triggers, be realistic. There’s no way to prevent fireworks from occurring or certain words from being spoken around you.
Emotional Relapse
The Marquette researchers stated a stressed animal previously exposed to cocaine will crave the drug because the dopamine surge from cocaine trumps the release of stress-related dopamine. Cues such as spoons can trigger memories of drug use in former heroin users without them being aware. Support the creation of new tools for the entire mental health community. For some, a trigger might cause a physical response – heavy breathing, sweating, crying. For some, a trigger can elicit an emotional reaction, like thinking “I am being attacked.” For some, a trigger can cause harm or a relapse.
How to Identify Triggers
External triggers are influences from your environment that remind you of past substance use. These are often easier to identify but can be just as powerful in prompting cravings. In doing so, you’ll be taking a significant step towards mastering the art of behavioral change and personal growth. Understanding behavioral triggers is ultimately a journey of self-discovery. It’s about peeling back the layers of our actions to reveal the underlying motivations and influences that shape our behavior. But before we dive deeper, let’s consider why understanding these triggers is so crucial.
Common internal triggers include:
This can remove the trigger from the traumatic context and allow you to experience the trigger without the trauma response. Luckily, there are other ways to cope with exposure to trauma triggers. Seventy percent of adults have experienced a traumatic event at some point in their lives. Traumatic events can range from witnessing war or violence to experiencing child abuse or neglect. Mental relapse, or relapse justification, is the continuous fight between wanting to use and knowing you should not use.
What Happens When You Encounter Trauma Triggers?
Some authors define triggers as external events that may be the cause of your anger. I am used to thinking of triggers as being either external, situations, or people internal triggers examples I encounter, or internal, what is going on in my body and my mind. You may find that there are other very personal triggers for your anger that are not on my lists. In substance abuse work we spend a lot of time on learning to manage triggers to drink and use. For people with lots of anger or other emotional issues, learning your triggers is important as well.
External triggers are environmental events and situations that make you want to use drugs or drink alcohol. This can be anything from certain social situations, responsibilities, and even drug addiction treatment specific places that trigger your desire to use again. On average more than 85% of individuals are susceptible to relapse in the following year after drug and alcohol treatment. Relapse triggers are far more extreme for recovering addicts in the early recovery months of addiction treatment.
Common Triggers in Recovery
- The most dangerous triggers are those that go unrecognized or that an individual hasn’t developed specific coping strategies to effectively manage.
- Both types can lead to cravings or even relapse, but they require different management strategies.
- By developing adaptive coping skills and practicing self-care during transitions, you can continue on your path to recovery and avoid setbacks.
- Steps For Change offers evidence-based treatments that can help you overcome your trauma.
- These events are situational or social cues in our environment that provoke an emotional response.
This example illustrates how multiple triggers can converge to influence a single behavior. Understanding these interactions can provide valuable insights into our more complex or persistent behavioral patterns. These practices help you stay present in the moment, observe cravings without judgment, and recognize triggers without automatically responding to them. For example, do your fingers twitch when you’re about to be distracted? Do you get a flurry of butterflies in your stomach when you think about work when you’re with your kids?