Do you have similar triggers with anger?

Personally, when a mood swing occurs (at least 2-3 times every day) I tend to have everything that's been bothering me or not even related to what upset me in the first place "pop-up" in my head if one single thing goes wrong.

Example: Was baking a cake last night. Okay mood up until that point, the cake broke in half and was sliding off a second layer because the icing was too warm. I easily became frustrated and upset. Then I thought about the butcher's block/table I was preparing the cake on and how it had some damaged mini blinds behind it. Then I started thinking about how the neighbors across the street from me have said derogatory things to me in the recent past...all because I could see them through the damaged part of the blinds.
The I started calling the neighbors names back in my head for all the nasty things they said to me in the past.

It's as if all it takes is one thing to go wrong, to trigger a series of bad memories....does anyone else suffer with this specifically?

That happens to me all the time... it starts with one thing then keeps going to other things like it is with you... it really bothers me and it never ends.

Hi there, me too!! Took a long time to learn how to "break the circuit". I must or I build up such reserves of rage that is harder to diffuse.......

Are you getting some help in dealing with this? feel free to PM me, babe....by the way, welcome!!!

In stillness......

Michah

Oh yeah im with you there! I know exactly how u feel!

That's very good that you can see what is happening. When you become aware of this going on, take a moment to acknowledge that it's happening--without judgement, just 'notice'. You might say to yourself "Hmm, I'm noticing this spiral/cycle beginning."
At that point you can change the focus of your mind and think about how this started and what there is about that to notice. Why did the cake breaking feel so intense to you, for example. Sometimes what happens right at the beginning of the cycle is something we try to avoid... and we do that by refusing to think about it, and instead we direct our focus on something else (the table, blind, neighbors.... see the pattern of your thoughts moving away from the initial experience of the broken cake?).

Sometimes for me a small event that is difficult (disappointing, frustrating, painful in some way) makes me just want to give up. I know it's not a huge event, but I quickly feel overwhelmed and helpless.

You are fortunate to have the awareness of how this event started and where it proceeded. When you can slow these things down, and find the deeper meaning to the initial event, it becomes much easier to understand emotionally. For example, if I was baking a cake for someone special and the cake fell apart, I might have a sudden and intense fear of the relationship falling apart similarly. Or, I might feel like the broken cake could reveal things about me (I'm not perfect?!), and so on.

Anyway, it's interesting to be able to 'notice' and to think about that first spark in a series of events like this, and what that means. To move toward it (noticing, thinking, accepting it as-is) rather than moving away from it (avoiding thinking by quickly changing focus, judging, dismissing it's importance).