Getting Triggered – Understanding our anxiety triggers

We’ve all heard of anxiety, and in fact, many of us have experienced anxiety first hand. But not all of us know why we’re anxious all the time. Sometimes, we can feel anxiety for (seemingly) no reason at all. While other times, it’s very clear what has caused our anxiety. Anxiety is becoming a much more well-known topic in western society, but what we fail to discuss nearly as much, is the root causes of anxiety and how to tackle them.

Before we get into the triggers. lets chat a bit about anxiety! What is it?!

Anxiety is a mental health condition that, believe it or not, nearly everyone goes through at some point of their life!  There is however a small (yet large) part of our population ( 4%! ) who deals with daily and persistent anxiety! It’s important to remember that if you are experiencing anxiety which is persistent, you are not alone! Anxiety can be caused from several different reasons, but usually gets “triggered” when we are presented with a… trigger!

Okay so, what’s a trigger?!

In simple terms, an anxiety trigger is a specific situation, action or stimuli that can lead to feelings of worry or fear. When we typically think of triggers, we often think about the obvious things such as a confrontation, a stressful medical appointment, or maybe an upcoming test. What we may not realize, however, is that anxiety triggers can be much more subliminal. Anxiety can be triggered by specific words, sounds, scents, environments or even memories, without us even knowing! Our brain is constantly scanning for threats, both external and internal, and when our brain picks up a stimuli that it believes to be threatening, we can become triggered – even if the stimuli isn’t actually threatening.

Getting to know your symptoms

Triggers can be found in everyday life, in a variety of different situations. When these triggers happen, we all have specific signs and symptoms which affect us. Like many mental health struggles, anxiety can feel all consuming. Anxiety often takes hold, and starts to control us, without us even knowing it. One of the fundamental steps to tackling your anxiety is getting to know the symptoms associated with your triggers. But like I mentioned before, sometimes, our anxiety triggers aren’t always easy to identify! Identifying our triggers looks different for everyone, as we all experience different signs and symptoms. We may experience physical, cognitive or more ambiguous symptoms associated with our triggers. Do you identify with any of the symptoms below?

Physical: Increased heart rate, tense muscles, feeling flush or hot, sweaty palms, shakiness, sweating, breathing changes, feeling weak

Cognitive: Racing thoughts, hypervigilance, catastrophizing, intrusive thoughts,

Ambiguous: Feeling of pressure, feeling a dark cloud sensation, weird aura, abrupt mood change, increased edginess, reduction in sleep duration or quality

Keep a look out for any of these symptoms that can indicate you’ve been triggered. Turn up the mindfulness!

Finding the trigger

Once you’ve recognized that you’ve been triggered through identify the symptoms, your next step will be to take a moment to process. Let’s see if we can find the trigger. Take a moment to write out and journal your responses to these questions, each time you experience trigger symptoms.

What was I doing before or during the point when I felt these symptoms?
What was I thinking before or during the point when I felt these symptoms?
What were all my senses experiencing before I felt these symptoms (What could I hear, taste, smell, see, feel?)
Who was I around before or during the point when I felt these symptoms?
Where was I when I began feeling these symptoms?
Is there any aspect of your environment/situation that reminded you of a negative stimuli?
Are there any stressors in my life that could be influencing these symptoms?

If none of these questions help you narrow down what caused you to feel this way, GUESS! Sometimes, writing down your guesses for your triggers can really help your brain resonate with one (or several).

In the meantime… work on taking care of what’s in your control

As many of us know, there are certain things that can exacerbate or perpetuate the symptoms associated with anxiety that we experience. Let’s take diet for example. As humans we have a hormone in our bodies called cortisol, and when we have too much, it can reek havoc in our bodies and on our mental health. Some side effects of high cortisol can be diabetes, heart issues, and high blood pressure. By maintaining a healthy ,balanced diet, we proactively work to maintain healthier, more balanced levels of cortisol.

Then we have Coffee and tea… yikes! (as I drink a cup of coffee). Caffeine increases cortisol levels in the body… it is quite legitimately a stress drink!! Another drink which increases anxiety is alcohol! Although alcohol may have relaxing benefits, long term, the drink causes a rise in cortisol, causing more anxiety! The effects of drinking caffeine and other stimulants can mimic the effects of anxiety, causing our brain (and body) to be triggered & perceive a threat, often perpetuating the anxiety!

What are other things that you know make your anxiety worse, or can mimic the symptoms of your anxiety? Try making small lifestyle adjustments one at a time to mitigate the impacts of those triggers that are currently in your control!

What’s next?

Once you’ve successfully turned up your mindfulness and began to identify the different stimuli that are triggering you, it’s time to tackle those triggers! Together, we can come up with a plan that targets each trigger, to reduce its impact on you and your anxiety. Reach out today and let’s tackle those triggers together 🙂

Meet our Student Counsellor and author of this post, Lisa Elmourne!