Do you have to have a trigger?

I have fallen into a pretty severe depression. I am leaning toward work bring the trigger but I don't know why it would trigger me now when it is no better or worse than when school started. My lifestyle has not changed - sleep, eating, etc. Do you think you have to have a trigger? The reaction I get from my therapist, the IOP therapists, and my pdoc is puzzlement. I guess because two weeks ago I was fine and ready to be discharged. The only major thing that happened was the car accident that totaled my car. I suppose that could have triggered this too, though I thought I would be better once my I got a new car and could forget about it. I'm no longer scared at intersections, though I am more cautious.

I just think everyone wants answers from me and I have none. Does everything g HAVE to have a trigger or can your mood be just because?!

For me it's stress. Anything out of the norm.

I got pushed into a hypomania a few weeks ago and my pdoc gave me meds to stop it but the natural progression for me is to swing the opposite direction then have to be treated for that to bring me back up. I seem to always swing up then down then back to usual but it takes work. In this case a med change and season change triggered the upswing.

Your accident most certainly could be a trigger. Triggers dont have to be lifechanging events (although the accident you were in sounded pretty severe). After the mood episode is triggered, even when the trigger is resolved it may not have any influence on your current mood.

My last trigger into depression was work stress, before that I was stable for a long time. I was annoyed that stress (even though not severe in my opinion) affected me so much. I am trying to accept that I cannot handle stress at all, and need to be very very aware of my stress levels.

Stress is my trigger also. Sleep deprivation also destabilizes my bipolar.

Stress and lack of sleep can contribute but for me it's very varied. I can react violently to a situation one day and the next not react to the same one at all.
If I'm overwhelmed I'll become depressed. And if I get into a small argument with someone.
That's about it, though. My hypomania isn't triggered (at least, I don't think so.)

You know something occurred to me when reading your last post -and of course this could be way off, but when you mentioned that you're coming to the end of the IOP I wondered if maybe losing this support, structure, etc. might be triggering this -or contributing?

I've never done IOP, but I imagine the transition out of it can be very hard -to go from all of that daily support and maybe people you've connected with, to having to leave it all. Is this possible?

I'm not sure about triggers... My feeling is that depression, especially if it's not a reaction to a manic state or something of that nature (which, in a way, is a trigger in and of itself), is more often than not triggered by something in one way or another. Could be a couple or a bunch of things together. It would be easier, for all of us I think, if we could draw neat straight lines from cause to effect, but unfortunately we're not often afforded such eureka moments; it can take some time and exploration to figure it out.

But I think it's good you're exploring the possibilities; I know that once I've realized why I feel a certain way, or reacted a certain way to something, that in and of itself tends to go a long way in helping me pull out of it -also helps me look out for those things in the future.

Aside from the IOP and all the stress at work, is there anything going on with your family or other relationships -that might be contributing?

Is there any way you can take a break from work, even if it's just for a couple of days, to start to gather yourself together? Removing that stressor, even for only a day or two, may help, I don't know.

I hope you feel better soon.

Nope.....there doesn't have to be a trigger. I'm manic as hell and I have NO idea where it came from. ALthoght stress is a big factor in most of my personal mood episodes.

Most of the time I don't have a trigger; however, In this case, extreme stress and lack of sleep are the triggers.

Ultramar- I did consider the end of IOP as the trigger too. I have been there for two months and I am used to it as my routine. Most of the people I connected with have been discharged already, but a new man came in who also has bipolar 1 and I have really connected with him as most of the people there have been addicts up until now (the evening program combines dual dx and mental health). I think a combination of all those things might have been the destabilizing factor.

I cannot take time off work because I was hospitalized at the beginning and therefore used all my paid days off. But I seem to be feeling better today so far (even on the hypo side of things) so we'll see how it goes.

I appreciate all the replies. You guys are right, the car accident probably started things rolling in a bad direction and work just exacerbated the issue. I just have to carry on and hope the med increase works. Thanks so much everyone!

Work stress ,family stress, seasonal change and death or
Illness of loved ones ,worry and grief...... I think that all equates to life. It always catches me off guard as it comes on quickly. In hindsight I can look back and sort of see when it starts to eventuate.

Thank you all for sharing. I have been looking for a community of like minds for ages. I am thankful to have found PC.

Anything that causes stress or fear.

I've had it go both ways too. Sometimes trigger, sometimes not. There are times too, when a trigger is "invisible", but can be figured out in hindsight. Even with hindsight, there is one I am 100% positive had no trigger. It was long before dx. It slammed me down hard, fast and out of nowhere. I was having a really good time for -- not sure exactly, but easily months. It was the best time of my life! NOTHING bad happened. Then, BOOM! Game over. Total darkness. For months. At the time, I knew nothing of BP or triggers, but can assure you that I wracked my brain for the tiniest scrap to explain "why". Because, please oh please, there just HAD to be, right? But there wasn't, and it freaked me the hell out.

Some still come out of nowhere, but others do seem to have a correlation with times of major stress or change. (Magnitude of effect often underestimated (by me) until well underway... sigh.) Others can see it earlier, when I'm still saying, "Pfffft!"

I find it easier to deal with my moods when there is a trigger, I will search and search for a reason. Not all of my episodes were triggered, but looking back a few were. Doesnt make them any better if they have been triggered but I feel like at least there is a reason.

Like others have said, I don't need a trigger, it just happens. However, that being said, this last depression that I was in and am still struggling w/ did have a trigger, and you guys will probably laugh, at least I think it's kind of funny and I talked it over w/ my T yesterday.

I'm in a very stressful environment at the moment. Both at work and at home. Well, I was away from home for 2 weeks, and all of a sudden I didn't have the stress at home all the time. So, my brain stopped producing all the stress hormones that everyone produces when under stress. After about 4 days I started to sink into a very deep dark place. The only thing that I can think of is that my brain and body were so used to those stress hormones that it didn't know how to handle it when they weren't there, and that's what triggered the depression. It's the only thing that makes sense to me.

I have a few triggers, but ... for instance Stress is going effect everyone MI or not . My biggest "triggers " if I wanted to call them are sleep and stress .. but I also have gone full out on the Tilt O Meter with not actual cause .

For me, this current depressive episode was preceded by no trigger whatsoever. Nothing had changed in my life. I just woke up one morning in early August and knew a depressive phase was starting.

In a similar way..... I've had times where nothing's happened and wake up in the morning

... as Tigger.

Right off the bat. Full-on Tigger. It's weird. And annoying. To others.

(Typically, I'm pretty out of it in the mornings, so it's really obviously "off" behavior.)