| A Time to Live Surviving Suicidal Thoughts |
| DISCLAIMER: This website is provided as an educational resource and should not be substituted for the diagnosis and treatment of a medical or mental health professional. |
Strategy 6: Trigger Identification*
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The trigger identification process will help you dig to the heart of the underlying issues. By analyzing and charting the circumstances that bring suicidal thoughts, you can start to address the past events that trigger your unwanted thoughts. |
| “Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.”Jeremiah 33:6 NKJV |
For me, there has always been an activating or triggering event that causes suicidal thoughts to move to
the forefront of my thought process. Throughout the course of dealing with my anxiety and depression
issues, I have employed the use of various versions of therapy worksheets. I eventually developed a
worksheet that I could use to help me identify the origins of my suicidal ideation. This worksheet is the
shovel in your survival kit in that it requires digging into both current and past feelings in an effort to identify
the originating factors.
Why do I need to identify what causes my suicidal thoughts?
It is essential that you begin to identify and understand the circumstances that bring on your suicidal
thoughts. In dealing with triggers, you will learn that the circumstances that bring the disturbing feelings
frequently have little to do with present day situations but instead are many times rooted in past hurts and
fears. I will try not to go overboard with the psychobabble, but this is essential ground to cover.
It is hard for you to defend yourself against something that has not been identified. As you identify each of
your triggers, you will be one step closer to healing your underlying wounds.
Identifying your triggers
Many times, we bury our past emotional wounds so far down inside ourselves that we have difficulty
locating and identifying them. By taking note of the types of situations that cause our emotional pain, we
can locate the underlying wounds so that they can begin to heal.
Identifying triggers is something you will do after each crisis. You may have one trigger or you may have ten
triggers. It took a year for all my triggers to be correctly identified. While this was sometimes a painful
process, I did have a choice to make. I could take the necessary steps to identify my underlying wounds so
that they could be addressed. Or, I could continue to have emotional meltdowns and fear for my life. Either
way I was looking at emotional pain. By taking steps to understand my issues, at least that meant that I
would be making forward progress in my goal to a more fulfilling life. Let’s go ahead and take a look at the
trigger identification process.
Step 1
Identify the specific circumstance that brought on your strong feelings. Write down that circumstance.
Step 2
Close your eyes and relive the circumstance in your mind. How does it make you feel? Be specific. Try to
write at least five adjectives describing how you feel. Refer to the Feeling Words list in the Appendix if you
need assistance finding the most accurate words to describe your feelings. This is important because any
one adjective has the potential of many synonyms, and some of those synonyms are a more accurate
reflection of your feelings than others.
Step 3
Now, I want you to concentrate on the list of adjectives you have written down. Think of a time in the past
when you have felt those same emotions. Something may come to mind that occurred last week, last year
or even twenty years ago. This set of feelings may remind you of an event as far back as your childhood.
You may even have several past situations come to mind at the same time. Write down a one-sentence
description of the past situation(s) that has come to mind.
Step 4
Continue to think about that past situation while you ponder the question, “What is the significance of the
past situation?”
To help you to answer this question, do not be concerned with whether things make logical sense. Just
explore your feelings. Why do you think you felt the way you did? What did this mean to you? When you
have an answer for this question, write down your response.
Step 5
The key to your underlying wound will be found in the prior step. So often, past wounds cause us pain
when something in the present, either consciously or unconsciously, reminds us of those wounds.
It is time for you to think about your own current and past situation. Look over the emotions you felt. Ponder
the underlying fear or hurt that is at the core of these events. Think about how you can manage this type of
situation in the future so that a flood of past negative emotions does not come rushing back at you.
Step 6
You will now want to fill in the identified trigger on your Personal Incident Report.
As you encounter additional crisis moments and analyze the triggering events, you will develop a
meaningful list of past wounds that are still causing you pain. As these events are brought to the surface, it
will become possible to start healing. I do recommend you include a counselor in this trigger identification
process as it can be a painful journey in which a trained expert can serve as a valuable guide.
Triggering Event Report
In addition to evaluating your triggers, there will be a Triggering Event Report to complete. This report is
similar to the Personal Incident Report for tracking crisis patterns. A full-version report is available in the
Appendix
the forefront of my thought process. Throughout the course of dealing with my anxiety and depression
issues, I have employed the use of various versions of therapy worksheets. I eventually developed a
worksheet that I could use to help me identify the origins of my suicidal ideation. This worksheet is the
shovel in your survival kit in that it requires digging into both current and past feelings in an effort to identify
the originating factors.
Why do I need to identify what causes my suicidal thoughts?
It is essential that you begin to identify and understand the circumstances that bring on your suicidal
thoughts. In dealing with triggers, you will learn that the circumstances that bring the disturbing feelings
frequently have little to do with present day situations but instead are many times rooted in past hurts and
fears. I will try not to go overboard with the psychobabble, but this is essential ground to cover.
It is hard for you to defend yourself against something that has not been identified. As you identify each of
your triggers, you will be one step closer to healing your underlying wounds.
Identifying your triggers
Many times, we bury our past emotional wounds so far down inside ourselves that we have difficulty
locating and identifying them. By taking note of the types of situations that cause our emotional pain, we
can locate the underlying wounds so that they can begin to heal.
Identifying triggers is something you will do after each crisis. You may have one trigger or you may have ten
triggers. It took a year for all my triggers to be correctly identified. While this was sometimes a painful
process, I did have a choice to make. I could take the necessary steps to identify my underlying wounds so
that they could be addressed. Or, I could continue to have emotional meltdowns and fear for my life. Either
way I was looking at emotional pain. By taking steps to understand my issues, at least that meant that I
would be making forward progress in my goal to a more fulfilling life. Let’s go ahead and take a look at the
trigger identification process.
Step 1
Identify the specific circumstance that brought on your strong feelings. Write down that circumstance.
Step 2
Close your eyes and relive the circumstance in your mind. How does it make you feel? Be specific. Try to
write at least five adjectives describing how you feel. Refer to the Feeling Words list in the Appendix if you
need assistance finding the most accurate words to describe your feelings. This is important because any
one adjective has the potential of many synonyms, and some of those synonyms are a more accurate
reflection of your feelings than others.
Step 3
Now, I want you to concentrate on the list of adjectives you have written down. Think of a time in the past
when you have felt those same emotions. Something may come to mind that occurred last week, last year
or even twenty years ago. This set of feelings may remind you of an event as far back as your childhood.
You may even have several past situations come to mind at the same time. Write down a one-sentence
description of the past situation(s) that has come to mind.
Step 4
Continue to think about that past situation while you ponder the question, “What is the significance of the
past situation?”
To help you to answer this question, do not be concerned with whether things make logical sense. Just
explore your feelings. Why do you think you felt the way you did? What did this mean to you? When you
have an answer for this question, write down your response.
Step 5
The key to your underlying wound will be found in the prior step. So often, past wounds cause us pain
when something in the present, either consciously or unconsciously, reminds us of those wounds.
It is time for you to think about your own current and past situation. Look over the emotions you felt. Ponder
the underlying fear or hurt that is at the core of these events. Think about how you can manage this type of
situation in the future so that a flood of past negative emotions does not come rushing back at you.
Step 6
You will now want to fill in the identified trigger on your Personal Incident Report.
As you encounter additional crisis moments and analyze the triggering events, you will develop a
meaningful list of past wounds that are still causing you pain. As these events are brought to the surface, it
will become possible to start healing. I do recommend you include a counselor in this trigger identification
process as it can be a painful journey in which a trained expert can serve as a valuable guide.
Triggering Event Report
In addition to evaluating your triggers, there will be a Triggering Event Report to complete. This report is
similar to the Personal Incident Report for tracking crisis patterns. A full-version report is available in the
Appendix
*Abridged from A Time to Live: Surviving Suicidal Thoughts by Kimberly Andry
| 2007 Copyright. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, information on this website can be used for individual use. Commercial use or distribution requires permission. Contact admin@atimetolive.com for additional information. |
 |
 |
