Can Listing Out Your Triggers Help Combat Stress? We Asked a Therapist

You prioritize sleep. You listen to self-care podcasts. You get your five-a-day and you’ve even been to therapy. In other words, you’re doing everything “right” for your mental health.

And yet, very few of us make it through the day without something bothering us—an interaction with a coworker, a passive-aggressive text from your mother-in-law or a news story that sends your stress levels skyrocketing.

In other words, something triggers us. And depending on the trigger, it has the potential to upend our entire mood.

So when a friend recently told me that her therapist has her working on a list of daily triggers that set her off as a way to notice patterns and plan for them, I was intrigued. Could something so simple actually help protect your mental health? I tapped an expert to find out.

Meet the Expert

Bisma Anwar, LPC, LMHC, is a licensed mental health counselor at Talkspace. She has over a decade of experience helping clients manage anxiety, develop healthy coping skills and prevent burnout.

Anwar defines a trigger as “a stimulus, person, situation, place or even an object that causes a negative emotional reaction or response.” They are unique to each person and often tied to past experiences. Even more unpleasant is the fact that they can show up in all kinds of ways, at times catching us totally off guard.

Hearing a certain song on the radio might bring up memories of a bad breakup, for example. Or seeing your messages “read” on the group chat without a response might bring up feelings of being ignored as a kid. Even getting a whiff of a particular perfume can trigger an emotional response.

Because triggers are so individualized, many people don’t realize they’re encountering the same ones repeatedly. That’s where tracking them can help.

“Tracking our triggers by writing them down helps bring attention and awareness to them,” says Anwar, adding that it also “gives us a chance to reflect on them and understand them.” Over time, patterns often begin to emerge. Maybe you notice that your stress spikes every time a certain coworker Slacks you or that the sound of doors slamming sets your anxiety into overdrive.

By identifying those patterns, you can start to anticipate triggers and prepare for them. And that preparation can make a big difference. “When you are aware of a trigger and it comes up, you are ready to deal with it,” Anwar explains. “You can prevent yourself from having a more intense emotional reaction because you were expecting it.”

To try this approach out yourself, Anwar suggests keeping it simple. Whenever you notice a trigger, jot it down in a journal or in the notes app on your phone.

“It’s best to write it down as soon as you notice it so you don’t forget it,” she says. Include a few quick details, such as:

• What happened
• How you felt emotionally
• Any physical reactions (like tension, headaches or racing heartbeat)

Tracking certain lifestyle factors like sleep, exercise or stress levels can also provide useful context, the expert notes. But there’s one big caveat: don’t dwell on it.

“Once you write it down, move on to doing something else,” Anwar says. “It is important to recognize our triggers in the moment, but staying focused on them for too long isn’t helpful.”

The goal is to just collect information—not to analyze every moment of your day.

OK so you’ve identified a trigger, now what? Well, the next step is figuring out how to manage it.

In some cases, the fix may be pretty straightforward. Certain triggers can simply be avoided. Say you were in a car accident and driving through that neighborhood now causes anxiety, then choosing a different route might help you sidestep that trigger altogether.

But many triggers are more complicated than that.

“The most common trigger that cannot be avoided is a person that causes emotional turmoil,” Anwar says. “When the person is a family member, coworker or neighbor, it’s harder to dismiss or avoid them completely.”

In those situations, the focus shifts from avoidance to coping. That’s where things like healthy boundaries, limiting unnecessary interactions and leaning on supportive friends or family members might come into play.

While tracking triggers can be productive, it’s not always enough. “Sometimes it can still be challenging to manage triggers despite having awareness and understanding them,” says Anwar.

If your triggers start interfering with your daily life, like making it hard to work or maintain relationships, then it may be time to seek professional support. In her practice, Anwar helps people manage their triggers with techniques like journaling, deep breathing and mindfulness exercises.

Whether you try tracking triggers on your own or work with a professional, you probably won’t eliminate every single one—and that’s OK. But once you start noticing the patterns behind what sets you off, those moments start to lose their power over you. And that, in itself, is pretty powerful.