How to Identify and Cope With Your PTSD Triggers

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02/09/2022
Sober living
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It often starts with strong emotions that make you neglect your physical and psychological well-being. Then, you might begin to justify why and how you can use again in a more controlled way. If you don’t already have a trusted therapist, you may want to meet with several before finding one you feel comfortable with who meets your needs. Therapy tends to take time, so having patience with yourself and the process can be essential to long-term success. Recovery can be an intensely personal experience, so it’s important to embrace whatever works for you.

Therapists experienced in substance use disorders can help you identify and analyze possible triggers.
Not just negative emotions, but emotions that people find challenging to deal with in general are frequently to blame for returning to addictions after periods of sobriety.
Even moderate amounts of alcohol can significantly impair driving performance and your ability to operate other machinery, whether or not you feel the effects of alcohol.
A relapse trigger is a cue that can cause a person in recovery to relapse.

If you always cracked open a beer after you came home from work, took off your shoes and sat down in front of the TV, that routine may give you the urge to drink. Also, writing down your thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a daily journal could help you identify trends, events, or stimuli that lead to triggers. Increasing your self-awareness may improve your chances of success. One of the cornerstones of treatment options for addiction recovery is education about triggers and healthy ways to cope with them.

What Are Internal and External Triggers?

Sometimes memories that we perceive to be happy are deeply intertwined with addictions or past addictive behaviors, which can lead to reminiscing about one-time use. This reminiscence of times https://ecosoberhouse.com/ when the addiction was in control is often a sign of the addiction trying to take over the brain again. If this is not immediately stopped, it can lead to current use and erosion of recovery.

As you change your drinking, it’s normal and common to have urges or a craving for alcohol. The words “urge” and “craving” refer to a broad range of thoughts, physical sensations, or emotions that tempt you to drink, even though you have at least some desire not to. You may feel an uncomfortable pull in two directions or sense a loss of control. For example, if you used drugs every time you were with a specific group of people, you might feel triggers whenever you’re in the same social situation.

Trigger Management: Unhealthy Coping Skills

A relapse trigger, whether internal or external, is something that sets off cravings in recovering individuals. Failure to address and maintain these triggers during the recovery process only serves to increase the risk of relapse. The removal of external triggers can be as simple as a change in scenery or new group of friends. Unfortunately, internal triggers – feelings and moods – can also impact the success of rehabilitation.

The removal of external triggers can be as simple as a change in scenery or new group of friends.
There are many common addiction triggers that can lead to persistent thoughts and images of substance use.
External triggers are easier to identify and manage than internal ones.
Avoiding your triggers is the most effective way to avoid having PTSD symptoms.
Some of the most common include being in a group setting, being around people who are using drugs or alcohol, going to a bar or party, and being in a stressful situation.

Asking certain questions about external triggers can help prevent relapse. Triggers that happen outside of the individual are not necessarily beyond control. There are multiple reminders of substance use in a former https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/dealing-with-internal-and-external-relapse-triggers/ drug user’s life, including people, places and things. Asking the right questions and taking the correct steps can enable people in recovery to healthily transition to their normal life without risking a relapse.