Getting as set off by it

Question

I'm reading an article about anxiety. The author says that when people feel anxious, they try to make themselves feel better by applying all kinds of coping techniques (e.g. deep breathing). Then it goes on to say:

Those tools have value, but if you get better at simply tolerating your physical anxiety, and not getting as set off by it, then you won't need to use them as much.

I know what "to set off" means, but isn't it used here as an adjective? Couldn't you say that anxiety makes you "set-off"? Or it is instead used as a normal verb?

Thank you

Answer 1

Those tools have value, but if you get better at simply tolerating your physical anxiety, and not getting as set off by it, then you won't need to use them as much.

If you don't let your physical anxiety "set you off" then you don't need to use the "tools" as much.

Here, being "set off" is being made angry. That is, being metaphorically ignited, like a firecracker -- "My mother-in-law always sets me off!!"

But note that "set off" can be used in an adjectival sense: "I felt really set off after I read that."