Usually people enter therapy due to experiencing emotions that aren't comfortable and they want to stop. But what causes these emotions?
One thing many therapists look for are triggers. Merriam-Webster's definition of trigger is 'something that acts like a mechanical trigger in initiating a process or reaction.' When when thinking of your emotions, a trigger is 'something' that initiates the negative and uncomfortable emotions.
What is this 'something?' It really could be ANYTHING. And it differs for different people. This is one reason therapists ask so many questions. It's not easy to answer 'Why am I feeling this way?' because everyone's histories are different. And everyone reacts to things differently
Triggers can be people. A family member, a priest, cops, teachers, anyone that you come in contact with. This could be someone you personally know or it could be a person who is associated with something else. For instance, maybe a woman named Jill is your sister and you personally know her but she is a trigger for these emotions. Or Jill could be a police officer and you could be triggered by the profession she represents and the role she is in at the time you interact with her.
A trigger can be a place such as a city where something happened, a restaurant, somewhere you used to work, your home, a relative's home, school, your treehouse... any physical place that you can be in.
A trigger can be a 'thing' as well such as an object. An object could be a hairbrush, a chair, cup, money. Anything you can touch essentially. But another kind of 'thing' could be a fight or a statement from someone else directed to you.
Those last three triggers are all external. Another type of trigger is internal - thoughts. We are constantly thinking. Sometimes we don't realize we are thinking because the thoughts are more subdued and are about what we see or are doing so we don't put a lot of effort into the thoughts. Sometimes we more actively think. However, either way, subdued or more active, these thoughts can cause reactions of emotions.
Knowing what your triggers are helps you be able to make a plan on how to either cope with your trigger/response or learn how to respond differently.
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