Coping with mental health triggers

A mental health trigger is something that can bring about symptoms associated with mental health conditions. Mental health triggers can influence your mood, behaviors, and overall well-being. Sometimes they can shape the course of your day or life. It can be unsettling to think a trigger might appear without warning and impact your mental health.

But there’s hope. Working with a therapist can help you identify what’s triggering your symptoms, develop healthy coping skills, and reduce the impact that triggers have over time. 

What it means to be triggered

Just as triggers vary from person to person, the symptoms can be as unique. After a car accident, for example, you may still feel anxiety or even have a panic attack before driving. Or, during recovery from an eating disorder, you might spend a lot of time on social media and notice a drop in mood afterward. 

You might also hear the term emotional trigger. While related, mental health triggers and emotional triggers are different. An emotional trigger sparks a strong emotional reaction to something happening in the present moment — often because it brings up unresolved feelings from the past. For example, your friend unintentionally insults you, which reminds you of experiences with your parents. After meeting up with your friend, feelings of intense anger and resentment emerge.

But emotional triggers don’t cause mental health triggers. Though they can worsen symptoms of a mental health condition. 

Understanding your mental health triggers can help you become more empowered about your mental health. You might recognize your symptoms are spurred by a trigger and take steps to seek help, like talking to a therapist. 

Mental health triggers can include:

• External triggers: These triggers come from your environment. For example, while watching your favorite TV show, a robbery scene might remind you of a past mugging and cause you to hyperventilate.
• Internal triggers: Internal triggers come from within — like thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations. For instance, you may feel a wave of panic at work, even if there’s no clear external cause.
• Symptom triggers: Sometimes, one mental health symptom can trigger or worsen another. For example, during a manic episode in bipolar disorder, you may have trouble sleeping, and that sleep loss can further intensify symptoms.

While it’s not always possible to avoid mental health triggers, being aware of what affects you can make a difference. For example, if you know that certain topics — like stories involving sexual abuse — are especially difficult, you might choose to skip an article with a content warning or wait to read it until you’re in a more grounded mental state. This kind of self-awareness is a powerful part of protecting your mental health.

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Where mental health triggers come from

The causes of mental health triggers are deeply personal. People carry around their own histories, and triggers are based on traumatic or distressing past experiences in their lives. Maybe something happened that scared you, hurt you, or made you feel unsafe. Over time, your brain learns to connect certain sights, sounds, or feelings to those painful moments. So when you face something similar later, even if it’s not dangerous now, your mind reacts as if it is. That’s how triggers form — they’re your brain’s way of protecting you, even if it doesn’t always feel helpful.

What are some potential effects of having mental health triggers?

Triggers can affect your day in many ways, such as:

• Experiencing strong feelings like fear, anger, or sadness that feel overwhelming
• Having trouble sleeping or concentrating
• Avoiding people, places, or activities that remind you of the trigger
• Feeling lonely or isolated because of avoidance
• Straining relationships when others don’t understand your reactions

Remember, understanding your triggers is the first step toward feeling more in control.

Steps to take when you’re triggered

Some people may be only subconsciously aware of their mental health triggers. The key is to become aware of what could stir up negative reminders of the past and why. From there, you can lessen the hold triggers have on you.

Here’s how you can uncover your triggers and deal with them:

1. Recognize the trigger. Awareness can be transformative. Notice what kinds of things in your life bring on mental health symptoms or worsens any mental health conditions you may already have. 
2. Identify what’s behind the trigger. Reflect on what the trigger brings up. Maybe it’s a loss of control you’ve felt consistently throughout your life. Or feelings of abandonment that worsen your trauma. 
3. Manage the trigger’s impact. Techniques like meditation, journaling, exercising, or leaning on a loved one can help release the trigger’s effect on you. Experiment with what works best for you depending on the trigger and particular moment. 

If you find life is continually disrupted by triggers that you can’t work through on your own, it could help to consult a therapist. It’s OK to ask for support. Some types of therapy like eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy are especially effective in healing from trauma and can help reduce the power your triggers have over you.

Find care with Rula

Mental health triggers can worsen symptoms of an existing mental health condition. It can be unsettling to feel like you might encounter a trigger at any moment. Your mental health is important, and you’re not alone if you want to address the causes of your triggers. 

At Rula, we’re committed to delivering a comprehensive behavioral health experience that helps people feel seen and understood so they can get back to feeling their best. 

Rula makes it easier to find a licensed therapist or psychiatric provider who accepts your insurance so you don’t have to choose between affordable care and excellent care. With a diverse network of more than 15,000 providers, 24/7 crisis support, and appointments available as soon as tomorrow, we’re here to help you make progress — wherever you are on your mental health journey.

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