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In the recovery process from an eating disorder, you’ll probably start by focusing on the food and your eating patterns. Once you’ve worked on those things, it will be time to turn you attention to your relationships – your emotional triggers.
You may feel triggered when people start talking about weight, dieting, the newest exercise program, or the foods they’re eating or not eating. Well-meaning friends and relatives may ask questions about what YOU are eating or not eating, or they may comment on your appearance.
Shopping for groceries or clothing can trigger many issues around food and body image, and food is on display pretty much everywhere you go at certain times of year, like the time leading up to any holiday. Just seeing those huge quantities of food all in one place can be terrifying for someone in recovery from food addiction, emotional or binge eating, anorexia, or bulimia.
Relationship issues can pop up just as often, where TV commercials, a show you’re streaming, books, or other people in your life can remind you of painful situations that are still unresolved. Sometimes you can get caught off guard by a reaction that feels out of proportion, like getting really upset about someone you don’t even know.
When someone triggers you, usually it’s because somewhere deep down it reminds you of an interaction with your family of origin or someone else in your past. This is another reason that we welcome triggers in the therapy process. This is a great opportunity to work through something that you wouldn’t have otherwise.
You don’t have to be afraid of triggers. You can learn to understand them and deal with them—not eat, restrict, or purge over them.