Triggers are extremely important to one's mental health. Everyone who deals with mental illness should know what their triggers are because then they will know how they can avoid them. If you do not know what triggers you, then you are in for a downward spiral. But, what exactly is a trigger, though? According to PsychCentral,
"a trigger is a stimulus that causes a painful memory to resurface. A trigger can be any sensory reminder of a traumatic event: a sound, sight, smell, physical sensation, even time of day or season"
Another thing that a trigger can be is anything that causes you to hallucinate or have delusions. Triggers should be taken seriously by others. Unfortunately, many people do not take other people's triggers seriously enough. I understand why because in today's modern age, it seems like anything and everything is a trigger to someone. To be fair, if we are speaking the Truth of Christ to people and that triggers someone, then the problem is with them and not us. However, real triggers are important and people need to be wary of them. If you are someone prone to unnecessarily triggering people then you seriously need to stop because you are causing unnecessary harm to others. In this blog, I shall be discussing what some of my triggers are in the hopes that those who know me best will be aware of them and will help me when I am not well and I hope to help someone else who deals with mental illness to seriously consider what some of their triggers are. The first thing I would like to say, however, is that there is no shame in having triggers. Technically speaking, everyone has something that triggers them, regardless of whether or not they have a mental illness. For example, for some people being stuck in traffic is enough to set them in a bad mood for the rest of the day. For others, just waking up and not having time to have the morning cup of coffee will send them into a spiral. Everyone has triggers, but some people's triggers are much more serious than others and they should be taken seriously. In my life, I experience at least six different triggers that will either cause me to hallucinate or set my emotions into a spiral. I will explain what they are and then I will tell you what I do to combat them. They are the following:
1) Singing Hymns In Church
2) Whenever Someone Else Is Praying
3) Reading The Psalms
4) Whenever Someone Tells Me I Am Demon Possessed
5) Whenever Someone Argues With Me
6) Being Reminded Of My Mother
I will elaborate on these five points, but first I would like to say that I have more triggers than these but for the sake of this blog I am only choosing to focus on these. After you finish reading this and the next time you see me or talk to me I will hope that you will keep this in mind. These triggers have the potential to really cause me a lot of mental anguish that I do not need. I will now talk about these six points.
Singing Hymns In Church
This one does not always trigger me, but sometimes singing certain hymns can trigger voices in my head telling me that I am God and that everyone in the church is worshiping me. These voices really disturb me because I know that I am not God. I know that there is only one God in the form of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I know that this one God will not give His glory to another. Regardless, even though I know this, it still does not stop the voices. So sometimes I need to remove myself from the congregation until the hymn that is being sung is over and I also repeat to myself Deuteronomy 6:4 which says,
"Hear O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one"
I repeat this numerous times until the voices eventually subside. Sometimes when the voices are not as loud as usual, I just sit in the pew and repeat it to myself there instead. What this does for me is remind me that the Lord is one and that He alone is God and not me. It keeps me from becoming deluded.
Whenever Someone Else Is Praying
This one gets a little tricky because it becomes difficult to pay attention to what the person is praying. Whenever someone else is praying, again, I hear the voices telling me that I am God and that the person is praying to me. This really disturbs me too because like I said I know that I am not God. However, to keep myself from becoming deluded, I repeat Deuteronomy 6:4 to myself while the person is praying and sometimes I even tell the person that I need to be the one to pray. Whenever I am the one saying the prayer, I do not hear the voices for some reason.
Reading the Psalms
Sometimes when I am reading the Psalms, the voices come to me telling me that they are about me and I get so disturbed that I must stop reading them. I hate this because I absolutely love the Psalms, especially Psalm 88. However, sometimes reading them can become too burdensome for me. Whenever this happens, I just go to a different book of the Bible. However, most of the time I just avoid reading them altogether because I do not want to risk becoming triggered.
Whenever Someone Argues With Me
This is one difficult one because I do love a good debate as long as it can remain civil. I do believe that there is a huge difference between debating and arguing. For instance, the Apostle Paul debated people but he was not arguing with them. The difference is that a debate is much like a civil disagreement and an argument tends to not be very civil. Whenever someone argues with me, I tend to ruminate on the argument for days afterward and it sends me into a spiral of emotions from angry to depressed. What I do whenever someone is arguing with me either on Facebook, on the phone, or in person I will remove myself from the situation for the time being until I can calm down. If I notice myself ruminating then I will do something to distract my mind such as reading a book or talking to my wife. These always help me to get my mind off of the argument and to think of more pleasant things.
Being Reminded Of My Mother
This one is hard because my mother went to be with the Lord fairly recently in August of 2022. As a result, the memory of her is still very fresh in my mind. Little things such as walking around my neighborhood and seeing places she would hang out remind me of her. Also, whenever I look at her urn or anything she owned will remind me of her. Also, whenever I watch her video of her singing I think of her too. Then, I tend to get sad because I miss her terribly. What I do in these moments is again I do something to distract my mind such as watching a movie I like or I read a book. These help me to get my mind off of my mother. It is not that I do not love my mom because I do love her very much, but ruminating on her memory does not help me. Another thing I do to help me cope is I remind myself that I will see her again one day whenever the Lord returns or whenever I go to be with Him. That is what I look forward to.
I really appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. What are some of your triggers? I hope that this blog has really helped you to consider what they are because they are important. May the grace of the Lord and Savior richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
"a trigger is a stimulus that causes a painful memory to resurface. A trigger can be any sensory reminder of a traumatic event: a sound, sight, smell, physical sensation, even time of day or season"
Another thing that a trigger can be is anything that causes you to hallucinate or have delusions. Triggers should be taken seriously by others. Unfortunately, many people do not take other people's triggers seriously enough. I understand why because in today's modern age, it seems like anything and everything is a trigger to someone. To be fair, if we are speaking the Truth of Christ to people and that triggers someone, then the problem is with them and not us. However, real triggers are important and people need to be wary of them. If you are someone prone to unnecessarily triggering people then you seriously need to stop because you are causing unnecessary harm to others. In this blog, I shall be discussing what some of my triggers are in the hopes that those who know me best will be aware of them and will help me when I am not well and I hope to help someone else who deals with mental illness to seriously consider what some of their triggers are. The first thing I would like to say, however, is that there is no shame in having triggers. Technically speaking, everyone has something that triggers them, regardless of whether or not they have a mental illness. For example, for some people being stuck in traffic is enough to set them in a bad mood for the rest of the day. For others, just waking up and not having time to have the morning cup of coffee will send them into a spiral. Everyone has triggers, but some people's triggers are much more serious than others and they should be taken seriously. In my life, I experience at least six different triggers that will either cause me to hallucinate or set my emotions into a spiral. I will explain what they are and then I will tell you what I do to combat them. They are the following:
1) Singing Hymns In Church
2) Whenever Someone Else Is Praying
3) Reading The Psalms
4) Whenever Someone Tells Me I Am Demon Possessed
5) Whenever Someone Argues With Me
6) Being Reminded Of My Mother
I will elaborate on these five points, but first I would like to say that I have more triggers than these but for the sake of this blog I am only choosing to focus on these. After you finish reading this and the next time you see me or talk to me I will hope that you will keep this in mind. These triggers have the potential to really cause me a lot of mental anguish that I do not need. I will now talk about these six points.
Singing Hymns In Church
This one does not always trigger me, but sometimes singing certain hymns can trigger voices in my head telling me that I am God and that everyone in the church is worshiping me. These voices really disturb me because I know that I am not God. I know that there is only one God in the form of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I know that this one God will not give His glory to another. Regardless, even though I know this, it still does not stop the voices. So sometimes I need to remove myself from the congregation until the hymn that is being sung is over and I also repeat to myself Deuteronomy 6:4 which says,
"Hear O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one"
I repeat this numerous times until the voices eventually subside. Sometimes when the voices are not as loud as usual, I just sit in the pew and repeat it to myself there instead. What this does for me is remind me that the Lord is one and that He alone is God and not me. It keeps me from becoming deluded.
Whenever Someone Else Is Praying
This one gets a little tricky because it becomes difficult to pay attention to what the person is praying. Whenever someone else is praying, again, I hear the voices telling me that I am God and that the person is praying to me. This really disturbs me too because like I said I know that I am not God. However, to keep myself from becoming deluded, I repeat Deuteronomy 6:4 to myself while the person is praying and sometimes I even tell the person that I need to be the one to pray. Whenever I am the one saying the prayer, I do not hear the voices for some reason.
Reading the Psalms
Sometimes when I am reading the Psalms, the voices come to me telling me that they are about me and I get so disturbed that I must stop reading them. I hate this because I absolutely love the Psalms, especially Psalm 88. However, sometimes reading them can become too burdensome for me. Whenever this happens, I just go to a different book of the Bible. However, most of the time I just avoid reading them altogether because I do not want to risk becoming triggered.
Whenever Someone Argues With Me
This is one difficult one because I do love a good debate as long as it can remain civil. I do believe that there is a huge difference between debating and arguing. For instance, the Apostle Paul debated people but he was not arguing with them. The difference is that a debate is much like a civil disagreement and an argument tends to not be very civil. Whenever someone argues with me, I tend to ruminate on the argument for days afterward and it sends me into a spiral of emotions from angry to depressed. What I do whenever someone is arguing with me either on Facebook, on the phone, or in person I will remove myself from the situation for the time being until I can calm down. If I notice myself ruminating then I will do something to distract my mind such as reading a book or talking to my wife. These always help me to get my mind off of the argument and to think of more pleasant things.
Being Reminded Of My Mother
This one is hard because my mother went to be with the Lord fairly recently in August of 2022. As a result, the memory of her is still very fresh in my mind. Little things such as walking around my neighborhood and seeing places she would hang out remind me of her. Also, whenever I look at her urn or anything she owned will remind me of her. Also, whenever I watch her video of her singing I think of her too. Then, I tend to get sad because I miss her terribly. What I do in these moments is again I do something to distract my mind such as watching a movie I like or I read a book. These help me to get my mind off of my mother. It is not that I do not love my mom because I do love her very much, but ruminating on her memory does not help me. Another thing I do to help me cope is I remind myself that I will see her again one day whenever the Lord returns or whenever I go to be with Him. That is what I look forward to.
I really appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. What are some of your triggers? I hope that this blog has really helped you to consider what they are because they are important. May the grace of the Lord and Savior richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
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