Everyone has emotional triggers or situations that cause an emotional reaction. The ones you might be most concerned about for your senior are ones that cause her to feel anger, sadness, or anxiety, among other types of difficult emotions. There is a range of different possible causes.
Holding Specific Expectations
Expectations aren’t inherently bad, but they can be difficult to manage. For your senior, expectations could include her own beliefs about what this time in her life was supposed to look and feel like. Her health and other variables might have shifted what that all looks like right now and that can be really tough to reconcile. Your senior may also have had some specific expectations around her care that aren’t feasible right now.
Experiencing a Lack of Control
Along with expectations, your senior may be dealing with a lack of control over how certain experiences are going. There’s a lot of life that can’t be controlled and that becomes more and more obvious for your elderly family member as she grows older. This can even be subconscious on her part. On one level, your senior may realize that there’s a lot that she can’t influence or control, but subconsciously that can be much more difficult to fully embrace.
Trouble Accepting Certain Truths
There’s a lot that’s probably going on for your elderly family member. Certain truths about life right now or her health may be difficult for her to hear or to accept. That can mean that she’s in denial about more than you expect. Unfortunately, just being unwilling or unable to accept certain truths doesn’t mean that those truths no longer exist. They may simply hit harder for your senior when they do finally become unavoidable.
Difficult Annual Events
Everyone has those times of year that are more difficult, for one reason or another. Those annual events might include painful anniversaries that your senior doesn’t enjoy remembering or birthdays of people she loves. For some people it’s not a particular date that is most upsetting, but the time of year or a holiday. These can be tricky times to navigate and your elderly family member may need more space around those times.
Emotional triggers aren’t always easy to understand or to avoid. Sometimes things you think are fine are a lot more difficult for your senior to deal with and become bigger than they really should. Your senior may have some triggers that you don’t fully understand. Working with experienced senior care providers can help you to learn those situations and manage them a little more readily.
