Identifying and Eliminating Triggers

How do you stop an addiction? Like any undesired behavior -- such as anger, drinking, smoking, emotional eating or drug use,it’s important to know what causes the behavior you are trying to change. Identifying and eliminating these “triggers” increases your likelihood of successfully combating your addiction.

Emotional triggers are much like physical triggers -- they cause an automatic response from the mind or body. A loud bang, for example -- may cause you to jump and feel a rush of adrenaline. Similarly for addicts, triggers often cause an automatic thought or feeling that leads to drinking or drug use.