What are emotional triggers?

There are situations that make you feel more vulnerable; memories, people or even things that raise fear, anguish or shame in you. To understand it better, we invite you to read the following text about mental triggers.

We all carry unresolved knots that suffocate, sensitive areas that hurt inside, psychological strata dominated by anger, fear, anguish or shame. The triggers or emotional triggers are dimensions that awaken a psychophysiological reaction that is difficult to regulate.

While these realities are common in those dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, most have experienced it at some point. It is enough to expose yourself to a certain situation, person or scene that reminds you of a difficult moment from yesterday, for that intense reaction to emerge.

If you feel identified and do not know how to handle such an experience, we suggest you delve a little deeper into this reading.

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to understanding ourselves.”

~Carl Gustav Jung~

What are emotional triggers?

Sometimes, we don’t take it well when someone orders us something because that severe and authoritarian father who cut short our childhood comes to mind. Some people fear entering an elevator, because it reminds them of the aggression they suffered in a similar space. Another example is shaking every time someone raises their voice or gets angry, bringing to mind the abuse experienced with an ex-partner.

It is not uncommon to store the mechanics of a mental trigger in our psychological universe. These triggers are imprints in the emotional brain that go back to a painful or traumatic moment from yesterday. The mind conditions these experiences and makes us react intensely when we are exposed to similar situations. They are like signs from another time not yet resolved.

It is true that these experiences distress and do not please. However, as indicated by work carried out at the University of Maryland, emotions are decisive in the human experience; They allow us to better adapt to complex social scenarios, but to do so, of course, it is pertinent to understand their function and regulate them effectively. What hurts needs to be addressed and not pushed aside. That’s the key.

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How do they manifest? triggers?

The science of mental trigger It is frequently articulated around trauma. But it is not always necessary to go to this extreme to suffer them. It is enough to have an experience that is not managed correctly to react to certain things or situations in an unregulated way. Let’s see how emotional triggers usually manifest themselves.

Greater impulsivity.Mixture of shame and anger. Feelings of insecurity and threats. Fear and the need to flee appear. Experiencing high stress and anxiety is also associated with a mental trigger. Job performance is impaired, since it is more difficult to adapt to certain circumstances .Suddenly, When we are exposed to certain events, we can suffer fear and high anxiety.It is common for socio-affective relationships to suffer, because we respond badly, we argue more, we get angry over nothing.

Emotional triggers are also accompanied by a marked physiological response, as follows:

Dizziness. Nausea. Tremors. Sweating. Tachycardia. Chest pain. Emptiness in the stomach.

As a curiosity, it should be noted that Columbia University developed a study to find out if emotional triggers were linked to the risk of suffering a myocardial infarction. The relationships are not clear, however, These intense psychophysiological reactions are dangerous for those who already suffer from cardiovascular diseases.

Many of our most intense, painful or dysfunctional reactions, on a daily basis, are due to emotional triggers, that is, to psychological realities such as possible untreated traumas.

What types of emotional triggers exist?

There are many people who experience an intense and maladaptive emotional response to certain and, apparently, normal situations. The most complex thing is that they do not know what happens to them, they do not understand the reason for these experiences.

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Well, when treating psychological triggers it is pertinent to know when they occur and what triggers them. This allows us to detect its typology. They are generally limited to three specific areas listed below:

Trauma triggers are the most common and they define those situations in which, after an adverse experience, we are unable to process what happened, as well as the difficult emotions that derive from it.There are emotional triggers for anger. In this case, we will also be dealing with traumatized patients who manage their emotions very poorly. They are people who always react with rage, anger and in a violent and unfortunate way.Anxiety triggers are experiences linked to states of great nervousness. They can be related to phobias (such as the fear of speaking in public or having to talk on the phone). Also to situations that generate stress and that we do not know how to handle, such as arguing with a partner or negotiating with a boss.

How are these types of psychological triggers treated?

Emotional triggers are the symptom of an underlying psychological reality that must be treated. They are considered the indicator mechanism that there is something to be resolved, which prevents adaptation and having a functional and satisfactory life. Let’s see, therefore, some help strategies.

The most important thing to address psychological triggers is to know what triggers them. Only in this way can the origin of the wound be understood.

Find out where the wound is

You may be one of those people who reacts badly when you receive a refusal. You may even be obsessed with the fear that others will leave you aside or abandon you. This causes you to intensely process many reactions and perhaps distort the words of others. The most important thing to address emotional triggers is to know where the wound is.

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To do this, become aware of all those situations that awaken negative emotions in you. This is how you will discover what you need to resolve, for example, the wound of a dysfunctional family or the trauma of a painful and unresolved relationship.

Do not fear pain, understand it and relieve it

As they say, sometimes you have to learn to suffer to stop suffering. What does this mean? That we must leave space for emotions to specify their origin and address them. If we repress suffering it will always be latent. It’s time to take responsibility for it.

The best psychological therapies to address triggers

In general, We will not always be able to untie the knot orchestrated by these internal mechanisms by ourselves. The mental triggers They settle in the head and remain there for a long time, conditioning responses. In these cases, and according to our needs, two types of psychological treatments benefit:

EMDR therapy or movement desensitization and reprocessing is the most appropriate to address psychological trauma. Cognitive behavioral therapy will be effective in case the emotional triggers are caused by anxiety. With it it is possible to manage those dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs, to better regulate emotions and behaviors.

Do not hesitate to request specialized help. In many cases, these realities put our relationships and social performance in check.. We become more impulsive and end up accumulating arguments, dismissals and many frustrations. Let’s act as soon as possible.