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Internal and External Triggers: 13 Examples of Each
The most effective way to address relapse triggers is through a comprehensive approach that addresses both internal and external triggers. Developing coping strategies for emotional factors and skills to navigate environmental triggers is crucial. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use disorders, seek help today. External relapse triggers come from the “outside,” meaning people, places and situations. When you encounter these factors, they can cause you to crave drugs or alcohol.
How to Regain Trust in a Relationship After Addiction
If you are newly in recovery, you may want to consider an outpatient program for your first few months into sobriety. Recovery can be an intensely personal experience, so it’s important to embrace whatever works for you. A support system of people you trust can be helpful in planning. While it might https://ecosoberhouse.com/ feel overwhelmingly like a defeat, it’s not impossible to overcome a relapse. Relapses are relatively common, and how you manage them is paramount for your long-term recovery. Kyros offers reinforcing support, like peer recovery services, to help organizations better serve their clients.
Strategies to Manage External Triggers and Prevent Relapse
As a safe space for study and practice, The Retreat empowers those who seek contented sobriety. Most people in recovery are advised to avoid relapse triggers no matter what. However, when it comes to emotional or personal triggers such as stress, depression, and over-confidence, these triggers can be difficult to avoid as they internal vs external triggers appear out of nowhere. Triggers can be a wide range of things and will vary from person to person as they are linked to personal experiences. Internal triggers are emotions or thoughts, whereas external triggers are something seen or heard. It’s important to get to know yourself in recovery, and find what works for you.
Often, relapse will be preceded by a trigger that causes someone to start thinking about relapsing or creates a craving for a substance that was previously used. These triggers can be difficult to recognize and can completely disrupt a recovery if they lead to relapse. Recognition and avoidance of potential triggers will be a key part of any recovery process. Each time a person is triggered is a learning opportunity that can help manage reactions in the future.
Some people cope with stressful events more easily than others; consider the impact such events might have on people with mental illnesses. Feeling triggered isn’t just about something rubbing you the wrong way. For someone with a history of trauma, being around anything that reminds them of a traumatic experience can make them feel like they’re experiencing the trauma all over again. Triggers refer to the experience of having an emotional reaction to a disturbing topic (such as violence or the mention of suicide) in the media or a social setting.
Although many people who seek treatment for addiction hope that they can stay sober afterwards, approximately 40 to 60 percent of people relapse. A relapse doesn’t mean that you failed or that the treatment wasn’t successful. Treatment for many chronic illnesses, including addiction, often requires multiple rounds. Even though relapse is a common part of recovery, it can be serious or fatal. Therefore, it’s important to address relapse triggers so that you can remain aware that relapse is always possible and use your resources to avoid or cope with those internal & external relapse triggers.
It will help you maintain a safe environment that supports your recovery journey. Sometimes, it’s necessary to distance yourself from friends who still engage in substance use to avoid being tempted or triggered by their behaviors. Additionally, setting boundaries with individuals who may enable or have codependent relationships can protect your sobriety and promote a positive support system. Triggers bring up intense memories and feelings of using substances. They can be internal, such as feelings, or external, like coming into contact with people, places, and certain stressors.
- Panic is a sudden sensation of fear that is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking.
- To avoid relapse, it is important to understand the risk factors and causes that typically lead to relapse.
- One of the biggest risks during drug recovery is that someone who is recovering from using a substance will relapse and begin taking that substance again.
- If there are many alternative routes to get around that do not take you past a location that triggers you, you should avoid those locations.
- Attending therapy is also a good way to help with processing internal triggers.
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However, Mezulis notes that even people without a history of trauma can be triggered when something elicits a strong emotional reaction. Avoid external triggers whenever possible, and get rid of any item that may lead to a trigger. Avoiding external triggers may involve ending some past friendships. Recognize that these friendships are harmful to you and be sure to cut the friendship off completely; a half-way ending to a bad friendship will be much less likely to succeed.
How to Cope With Triggers
Sometimes, trying to avoid a triggering situation is reasonable. However, if avoidance hinders your ability to function, you should seek help. When triggered, the brain might interpret past traumatic events as current. This causes the body to experience symptoms as it did in response to the original trauma (such as the fight-or-flight response). Our brain stores memories by associating them with other memories.
