Question about trigger avoidance

[Trevor7676]

Thank you for the reply, and I'm not quite sure what kind of obsessions you mean? Its almost like a never ending fear of history repeating itself or popping back up if I don't follow these exact "rules" my mind had seemed to make for itself

 

[EveHarrington]

Thank you for the reply, and I'm not quite sure what kind of obsessions you mean? Its almost like a...

To me it seems like a crossover between triggers and OCD type symptoms.....especially since you mention these “rules” you must follow.

I’m sorry I’m not being clear. I just know that I’ve struggled with obsessive type thoughts myself, and that’s what struck me about your reply.

Regardless, it seems like you are caving to the triggers and running from them? This tends to make the triggers worse.

 

[Trevor7676]

Yes you're right I believe there is some OCD issues forsure. I was just wondering how people have the courage to face these triggers? I feel like if I continue to wilt to them then I will continue to slowly spiral downwards. But if I don't and something happens that I connect to my triggers it will also be a downward spiral.

 

[Freida]

I was just wondering how people have the courage to face these triggers?

counseling, counseling, counseling. It takes help to learn to identify and learn to react appropriately, but it can be done -- and once you get them under control thing get easier.....

 

[EveHarrington]

Yes you're right I believe there is some OCD issues forsure. I was just wondering how people have th...

I know I’ve had to confront some triggers head on.

Freida is right on seeking out counseling.

I don’t want to say too much as the OCD aspect may mean you have to take a different approach.

 

[Trevor7676]

Thank you to everyone for their help, counselling will be my next step

 

[Deleted member 45988]

I feel ridiculous even giving such thought to all to these triggers but of course it isn't something...

I had eBay business in basement of roommates house with tons of inventory. He starts to decide he's gay because he used to follow me around and he can't figure out women, even though nobody who knew him believed he was gay, and then there is ridiculousness and then he wants someone who loves him there and starts having a breakdown and I get kicked out and have to move whole eBay business to storage units and be homeless because I need to move immediately and no other solution will work. Then he commits suicide. Then my eBay business is messed up because I can't find items I had to move in a huge rush. And my initial ptsd like problem was a sexual assault by two gay men.

And I did like my roommate and was his support when I lived there and we knew each other from college and the plan was for us to trade financial markets, which I feel like would probably have worked. I feel guilty about not being there to talk him out of suicide, because I feel like I could have, but I was homeless and not particularly happy with him at the time.

So everything is a trigger. I'm still trying to sell same stuff because I got disability but it's very low, and most things I look at I get very frustrated about for a number of reasons. Then I see what stock market is doing and that's a trigger. Etc, etc.

My girlfriend wants me to throw pretty much everything I own away, which would probably help. But then nor hearing about the stock market would help, not hearing liberal ideas might help, etc. I sort of wish I could go live in a cabin in some remote area for a year to escape all the triggers :)

 

[Deleted member 45988]

@Trevor7676 wrote: "Yes you're right I believe there is some OCD issues forsure. I was just wondering how people have the courage to face these triggers? I feel like if I continue to wilt to them then I will continue to slowly spiral downwards. But if I don't and something happens that I connect to my triggers it will also be a downward spiral."

For me, events surrounding one event come back quickly and stay there, it's like I am obsessed, but I am not obsesssive/compulsive in general, maybe obsessive in a perfectionist way, but that's about it. Like things, including emotions, surrounding one event are completely seared in my brain.

I'm not sure if things you are describing are the same or different. I sort of get the impression that what you are describing is more straightforward OCD. I assume a tendency to do OCD things as a way to deal with anxiety is a bit different than some event that brain keeps obsessively going back to because it was somehow a traumatic event/series of events

 

[Deleted member 45988]

Anyone here able to avoid triggers entirely?

If you manage to avoid triggers for a long period, let s...

If I spend a day avoiding all triggers by binge watching Netflix or playing legend of Zelda, I am totally fine and I feel better when I start trying to accomplish something the next day. But then the effect goes away pretty quickly. To me i feel like my internal stress level goes from 95% to 90% by taking a day off, but then goes right back to 95%. I feel like if I could avoid all triggers for several months and then start again avoidance would help more because the 95% might go down to more like 10% as a starting point.

 

[Enaila]

I agree with Friday. The more I try to avoid triggers, it seems like a new trigger takes its place. My mind also can connect even a happy current moment to some past trauma triggering a flashback.

 

[Deleted member 45988]

@Enaila said: "I agree with Friday. The more I try to avoid triggers, it seems like a new trigger takes its place. My mind also can connect even a happy current moment to some past trauma triggering a flashback."

I got a lot better and stayed better for years after initial incident(s) by being something of a hermit. Triggers didn't expand and multiply for me then in the way Friday describes. But initial issues were never actually addressed, and they came back strong with recent events.

Maybe it depends on person or incident(s), for me avoidance works great, it just does not actually solve the problem it just makes problem not appear.

 

[KwanYingirl]

I avoid triggers. I try to predict exposures just so I can avoid them. A trigger is a thing, or a smell, or. Person, etc.that my mind interprets as danger. So I avoid them. And there’s often no sencical relation between my trauma and the trigger. For instance, I got strangled by a junkie. One might think Junkies trigger me, but they don’t. Being alone in the passenger seat while the driver goes into a quick mart is a huge trigger. You can’t draw a line between the two. So I always offer to be the driver. Weird.