Anxiety Triggers and How to Overcome Them

Anxiety disorders are common, and their causes can be complex, involving a combination of factors such as thought patterns, perceptions, and environments. Certain events, emotions, or experiences can trigger or worsen anxiety symptoms. These specific moments are known as triggers.

Triggers are different for each individual person, but many people have a range of the same triggers, and most people have multiple triggers. For some, anxiety attacks seem to be triggered for no reason at all.

Therefore, it’s best to uncover what your own triggers in order to better manage them. In this article, I’ll help you learn how to identify and reduce your anxiety triggers.

Symptoms of Anxiety

If you suffer from anxiety, you may have:

• Uncontrollable worry

• Fear

• Muscle tension

• Fast heartbeat

• Difficult sleep or insomnia

• Difficulty concentrating

• Physical discomfort

• Tingling

• Restlessness

• Irritability

• The feeling you’re on the edge

Experiencing these symptoms regularly for six months or more means you may have a generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), although there are other types of anxiety disorders as well.

What Can Trigger Anxiety?

Anxiety triggers can include but are not limited to:

• Caffeine: Excessive consumption of caffeine, if not regular consumption, can trigger anxiety and make symptoms worse.

• Health Issues: Medical conditions, like heart problems, overactive thyroid, low blood sugar, and low iron.

• Medications: Prescription and over-the-counter medications, like hormonal birth control and cold medications (the list of side effects may include anxiety, so read the labels and inserts).

• Relationship Issues: Some people find conflict within their family, including their spouse and other members, can be a trigger.

• Stress: Stress caused by life events like graduation, the death of a loved one, divorce, or job loss is a common trigger.

• Conflicts at Work, School, or Home: Disagreements between co-workers, classmates, or family members.

• Social Events: Social anxiety triggers can include attending parties, school, concerts.

• Low Iron Levels: Many of the symptoms of anaemia are similar to anxiety.

• Finances: Worried about paying bills or saving money for retirement can trigger ongoing stress and anxiety.

• Substance Abuse: Alcohol and other substances such as amphetamines.

• Public Speaking: Performing in front of an audience.

• Interruptions in Sleep Patterns: Disrupted or inadequate sleep.

• Changes in Routine: Starting a new job, having a baby, or beginning university, for example.

Tips for Identifying Your Triggers

Once you identify and understand your triggers, you can work on how to avoid them and cope by learning coping strategies to handle the triggers when they occur.

Some tips for identifying triggers:

• Journal: Write down when you notice your anxiety and record what you think may have led to its trigger. There are also some apps which can help you do this on your devices as well.

• Work with a therapist: Anxiety triggers can be difficult to identify, but counsellors, therapists, and even hypnotherapists are trained to help identify triggers using talk therapy, journaling, art,

• Be honest with yourself: Anxiety can increase negative thoughts and poor self-judgments. This can block trigger finding because of anxious reactions. Be patient and willing to explore your past to help identify how it may affect you today.

• Identify major stressors: Those major life stressors like relationship issues, job change or loss, pregnancy, or the death of a loved one can all point toward anxiety. Take a moment to think about any current stressors that may currently affect your level of anxiety.

• Reflect on past experiences: Previous trauma can be a trigger. Take a moment to consider how negative past experiences might still affect you.

• Keep a thoughts inventory: It is helpful to be aware of what you are thinking about.

• Listen to your body: Is it something you’re eating or drinking? Caffeine, sugary foods, and alcohol can all raise cortisol levels within the body, which in turn can increase anxiety.

If you set aside a good portion of time and dedicate the energy to identifying your triggers, you can develop the proper coping techniques for managing your condition. Once you find your anxiety triggers, you can learn how to cope with them.

Coping and Reducing Anxiety Triggers

Self-help tips for coping with anxiety:

• Schedule time in the day to worry, limiting anxiety’s dominance.

• Exercise regularly to reduce stress

• Get proper sleep

• Limit caffeine intake

• Volunteer

• Tell the anxious part of your mind “I don’t need protecting right now”

• Maintain a daily routine to reduce uncertainty

• Use your imagination to create positive outcome potentials.

• Meditate or use self-hypnosis audios or techniques.

Mindfulness meditation:

The practice of focusing the mind is meditation. Mindfulness is a type of meditation involving the focus on feelings, thoughts, or bodily sensations that happen in the present moment. This helps to slow the racing thoughts and calm the mind. You can’t think about the past or the future if you are in the present moment.

Hnotherapy is a therapeutic technique that intricately combines elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and traditional psychotherapy, creating a unique and effective treatment modality. This integrated approach harnesses the strengths of CBT and psychotherapy, leading to quickly eliminating negative thoughts, emotions, and limiting beliefs. It is a successful way to modify behavior embed, and induce new thinking.   CBT is a well-established psychological treatment that focuses on identifying and transforming negative thought patterns and behaviors. It operates on the premise that thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected and that by altering negative thought processes, we can significantly improve emotional wellbeing and behavioral responses. This method has been proven effective in treating a range of mental health issues, including anxiety disorders, depression, and phobias. In the context of hypnotherapy, CBT principles help individuals better understand their thoughts and feelings. Hypnotherapy for anxiety works by resetting anxiety levels to a healthy state, clearing negative and unhealthy thoughts. belief systems that drive anxiety state and perception while reducing feelings of anxiety fear and intense worry and instilling calm and relaxation using a variety of therapeutic techniques with the integration of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy with the integration of Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most widely-used therapy for anxiety disorders panic attack, phobias, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, among many other conditions, offers a successful way to identify and understand anxiety fear response patterns and behavioural traits that might be causing and maintaining the client's anxious thought process. Cognitive Hypnotherapy identify negative thinking patterns and provides important management tools and skills. Through hypnotherapy, we can help manage unhelpful patterns and stressful situations more calmly, identifying, challenging and replacing negative thoughts with realistic thoughts.