What are triggers in mental health?

In mental health terms, a trigger refers to something that affects your emotional state, often significantly, by causing extreme overwhelm or distress. A trigger affects your ability to remain present in the moment. It may bring up specific thought patterns or influence your behavior.

What is a person’s trigger?

What is a Trigger? A trigger is a reminder of a past trauma. This reminder can cause a person to feel overwhelming sadness, anxiety, or panic. It may also cause someone to have flashbacks. A flashback is a vivid, often negative memory that may appear without warning.

What is an emotional trigger?

Emotional triggers, also called mental health triggers or psychological triggers, are things (e.g. memories, objects, people) that spark intense negative emotions. This change in emotions can be abrupt, and in most cases it will feel more severe than what the trigger would logically call for.

What do Triggers feel like?

Responses to Triggers You may feel strong emotions such as anger, fear, anxiety, sadness, numbness, or feeling out of control. Being triggered may primarily show up in how you behave; you might isolate yourself from others, become argumentative, shut down emotionally, or become physically aggressive.

How do you know if you are triggered?

Signs You’ve Been Triggered: Examples of Trauma Symptoms

1. Bothered by small things.
2. Sensory sensitivity – easily overstimulated, bothered by noises or body sensations that don’t always bother you (e.g. touch from others, tags on clothing)
3. Anger feels sudden and uncontrollable.

What is positive trigger?

We call a stimulus that impacts behavior a “trigger.” Triggers can be both positive and negative. An example of a positive trigger is smiling back at a smiling baby. However, it is the negative triggers that we need to become aware of that can cause us to “go reactive.”

Is it normal to get triggered?

It is normal in the course of everyday life to feel upset or distressed. Sometimes these feelings can be strong, and uncomfortable, but they retain their connections to present time and space. Traumatic feelings are different.