what to do if triggers of a past event are everywhere?

[Anonymous]

OP, I am sorry you are going through this. I am also sorry to tell your there are no easy or quick solutions.

The way out is to take care of yourself. Eat healthy. Exercise. If you can’t sleep, get on meds to get it under control. Get therapy so you can tackle the reminders.

Avoiding them will not help. When you avoiding thinking about something, it actually looms larger in your mind. The daily reminders you can’t escape are what you need to learn to coexist with.

A lot of my therapy has been focused on going back and forth between triggers and the present moment so I can experience both the fear memory and my present safety. This is something you need professional help to really achieve. Find someone with experience treating trauma

[Anonymous]

EMDR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I think what is going on in our government has poisoned every aspect of our society. You are seeing things that trigger you because there is no safe place to get away from the hate. You’re not the only one walking around angry. Every trauma survivor is being triggered. I am trying to work on feeling this anger in my body and releasing it through breathing techniques and it’s helping. I also try not to engage with people. Do what brings you joy.
And yes this is political because our government is torturing us.

^ Good example of OCD.

OP, sounds like you might have "Pure O" or "OCD" if compulsions or aversions accompany the thoughts at all. Above example is textbook example of "Pure O".

I already have OCD but that's seperate from and has nothing to do with what I'm experiencing now regarding this event.

Oh but it does. It's all related to how your brain works. Too much serotonin, adrenaline/noradrenaline, etc. and not enough neuro-inhibitors such as GABA.

It's not my regular intrusive OCD thoughts, it's memories/images of the event and exposing myself to the triggers does not help because I'm trying to avoid those reminders of the event.

Like I've done everything I do to control them by not going certain passes anymore, doing certain things, or wearing certain clothes but some other things are out of my control.

You are using OCD to try to address trauma and as you can see, it doesn’t work. See your psychiatrist re OCD meds or adjustment and get a referral for trauma therapy. Extinction is a proven method of addressing trauma. What you are doing now is recreating trauma 24/7 and giving it more power. Once you are able to create a feeling of safety and regulation within yourself it can become just something that happened but that does not define you or control your life. Do you see how that is different?

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PP and it will make things worse over time.

https://www.verywellmind.com/exposure-therapy-for-ptsd-2797654

You need better psych meds and professional trauma treatment, not talk therapy and trying avoidance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I think what is going on in our government has poisoned every aspect of our society. You are seeing things that trigger you because there is no safe place to get away from the hate. You’re not the only one walking around angry. Every trauma survivor is being triggered. I am trying to work on feeling this anger in my body and releasing it through breathing techniques and it’s helping. I also try not to engage with people. Do what brings you joy.
And yes this is political because our government is torturing us.

^ Good example of OCD.

OP, sounds like you might have "Pure O" or "OCD" if compulsions or aversions accompany the thoughts at all. Above example is textbook example of "Pure O".

I already have OCD but that's seperate from and has nothing to do with what I'm experiencing now regarding this event.

Oh but it does. It's all related to how your brain works. Too much serotonin, adrenaline/noradrenaline, etc. and not enough neuro-inhibitors such as GABA.

It's not my regular intrusive OCD thoughts, it's memories/images of the event and exposing myself to the triggers does not help because I'm trying to avoid those reminders of the event.

Is the event something that impacts your day-to-day life?

Yes, I can't focus on doing important things or really anything.

What I mean is whether the outcome of the event itself impacts your life, or just the residual trauma. So, did you witness something horrific but you didn't know any of the people involved? Or was someone you know and love injured? Those are different kinds of trauma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I think what is going on in our government has poisoned every aspect of our society. You are seeing things that trigger you because there is no safe place to get away from the hate. You’re not the only one walking around angry. Every trauma survivor is being triggered. I am trying to work on feeling this anger in my body and releasing it through breathing techniques and it’s helping. I also try not to engage with people. Do what brings you joy.
And yes this is political because our government is torturing us.

^ Good example of OCD.

OP, sounds like you might have "Pure O" or "OCD" if compulsions or aversions accompany the thoughts at all. Above example is textbook example of "Pure O".

I already have OCD but that's seperate from and has nothing to do with what I'm experiencing now regarding this event.

Oh but it does. It's all related to how your brain works. Too much serotonin, adrenaline/noradrenaline, etc. and not enough neuro-inhibitors such as GABA.

It's not my regular intrusive OCD thoughts, it's memories/images of the event and exposing myself to the triggers does not help because I'm trying to avoid those reminders of the event.

Is the event something that impacts your day-to-day life?

Yes, I can't focus on doing important things or really anything.

What I mean is whether the outcome of the event itself impacts your life, or just the residual trauma. So, did you witness something horrific but you didn't know any of the people involved? Or was someone you know and love injured? Those are different kinds of trauma.

Both the outcome and the event. I was directly involved

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I think what is going on in our government has poisoned every aspect of our society. You are seeing things that trigger you because there is no safe place to get away from the hate. You’re not the only one walking around angry. Every trauma survivor is being triggered. I am trying to work on feeling this anger in my body and releasing it through breathing techniques and it’s helping. I also try not to engage with people. Do what brings you joy.
And yes this is political because our government is torturing us.

^ Good example of OCD.

OP, sounds like you might have "Pure O" or "OCD" if compulsions or aversions accompany the thoughts at all. Above example is textbook example of "Pure O".

I already have OCD but that's seperate from and has nothing to do with what I'm experiencing now regarding this event.

Oh but it does. It's all related to how your brain works. Too much serotonin, adrenaline/noradrenaline, etc. and not enough neuro-inhibitors such as GABA.

It's not my regular intrusive OCD thoughts, it's memories/images of the event and exposing myself to the triggers does not help because I'm trying to avoid those reminders of the event.

Like I've done everything I do to control them by not going certain passes anymore, doing certain things, or wearing certain clothes but some other things are out of my control.

You are using OCD to try to address trauma and as you can see, it doesn’t work. See your psychiatrist re OCD meds or adjustment and get a referral for trauma therapy. Extinction is a proven method of addressing trauma. What you are doing now is recreating trauma 24/7 and giving it more power. Once you are able to create a feeling of safety and regulation within yourself it can become just something that happened but that does not define you or control your life. Do you see how that is different?

I didn't notice that, but thank you for the advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I think what is going on in our government has poisoned every aspect of our society. You are seeing things that trigger you because there is no safe place to get away from the hate. You’re not the only one walking around angry. Every trauma survivor is being triggered. I am trying to work on feeling this anger in my body and releasing it through breathing techniques and it’s helping. I also try not to engage with people. Do what brings you joy.
And yes this is political because our government is torturing us.

^ Good example of OCD.

OP, sounds like you might have "Pure O" or "OCD" if compulsions or aversions accompany the thoughts at all. Above example is textbook example of "Pure O".

I already have OCD but that's seperate from and has nothing to do with what I'm experiencing now regarding this event.

Oh but it does. It's all related to how your brain works. Too much serotonin, adrenaline/noradrenaline, etc. and not enough neuro-inhibitors such as GABA.

It's not my regular intrusive OCD thoughts, it's memories/images of the event and exposing myself to the triggers does not help because I'm trying to avoid those reminders of the event.

That is classic OCD. Avoidance of the thoughts that you don't like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Time heals most things

This also. ^ Brain is plastic and always changing.

[Anonymous]

Without knowing what the event was nobody here can help you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! I think what is going on in our government has poisoned every aspect of our society. You are seeing things that trigger you because there is no safe place to get away from the hate. You’re not the only one walking around angry. Every trauma survivor is being triggered. I am trying to work on feeling this anger in my body and releasing it through breathing techniques and it’s helping. I also try not to engage with people. Do what brings you joy.
And yes this is political because our government is torturing us.

^ Good example of OCD.

OP, sounds like you might have "Pure O" or "OCD" if compulsions or aversions accompany the thoughts at all. Above example is textbook example of "Pure O".

I already have OCD but that's seperate from and has nothing to do with what I'm experiencing now regarding this event.

Oh but it does. It's all related to how your brain works. Too much serotonin, adrenaline/noradrenaline, etc. and not enough neuro-inhibitors such as GABA.

It's not my regular intrusive OCD thoughts, it's memories/images of the event and exposing myself to the triggers does not help because I'm trying to avoid those reminders of the event.

That is classic OCD. Avoidance of the thoughts that you don't like.

That's not what OCD is. I'm surprised many people on this forum are very misunderstanding of a already misunderstand disorder. OCD causes people to have intrusive thoughts that are disturbing, but they do not try to avoid them because they cannot and the thoughts keep coming but for OP it seems like their going through trauma and that they need to avoid the reminders which sounds more like PTSD symptoms.

[Anonymous]

Look into emotional regulation techniques.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't seem to focus on doing anything without thinking about this and there is reminders about it everywhere that I can't seem to escape. It makes me feel so angry at everything. Has anyone else dealt with this, what should I do?

Yes.