Coping Mechanism's?

Hey guys,

I am a bit anxious as tomorrow my Support Worker is going to start doing coping mechanism's with me... what kind of things are coping mechanism's. Is it just things that we do to calm down? I think it's going to be a weekly thing as I have it next Friday too

Any tips/advice/wise words of wisdom would be great thanks

try some deep breathing excersizes to calm down it will be ok.

My therapist is trying to have me meditate, not the sitting on the floor type or saying Ohmmmm. She is teaching me to focus on my breathing and if a bad thought comes into my head to just notice it and focus back on my breathing again.

She also told me to focus my site on something outside or inside to get my focus away from my thoughts and this I find really works and am doing it daily.

The breathing one takes a lot of practice, but I am getting better at it every single day.

Thanks guys,

I do Tai Chi so am able to focus... I think it's cause I am manic recently they want me in to do coping mechanisms. My Support Worker today said tomorrow will be a general chit chat too to see how I am doing... kinda unsure what to say to that really I'm all over the place but have been managing to hide it from the outside world

what coping mechanisms did you learn from your social worker?
did it go well?

I think alot of it is developing healthy self talk to be able to respond to difficult situations in a healthy way rather than overreacting

To me coping mechanisms are kind of like falling in judo. (I'm a brown belt/sankyu,) You know there's a possibility at any moment that your opponent may throw you. If you don't know how to fall, you will get hurt. Falling has to be 2nd-nature, "Oh I just did that" - after the fact. Until we get to that point, we practice falling with just slapping the mat with our arms, then with legs, left and right side... Then when we get thrown, its instinct. With coping mechanisms, I try to have a file that says "Oh yeah- this is what I was told to do now." It may even be a sound-clip I have from when I was told that in my head. I find its only these little clips that sometimes save me when my brain is betraying me. If I can just think to call my pdoc, that is HUGE coping technique in itself! Smaller things could be to go away from the situation that's adding to my current state, and do something soothing. Music, see friends, etc. I got into doing that a lot because my mother is frequently the source of my stress. She is constant nasty at times so I just escape and self-sooth. Sometimes that's meant my friends at the bookstore, and sometimes it has meant going to bf's for sex. I think I've OVER done it at times so that I don't get normal life things done- like school or job. But how can you do those things if you're preoccupied by stressers, or if you go into a depersonalization or a derealization or you hallucinate? What if you are in a mixed state? How do you pull out of that, when you are sobbing and know you shouldn't stay in bed all day but your files are being overridden by the very real reality of your body at the moment?

Hey guys,

I started off by working on my fears. Well one in particular- fear of staying in the house on my own or being up on my own in the house. The night before I started it I thought someone was trying to break into my house and locked myself in the bathroom. I need to overcome this one. So Mandy worked with me on all the issues surrouding it. Example.... when I heard the noises everyone were in their bed sleeping. She said if it was a burglar s/he would only be looking for material things like money/things to sell. She said they will not normally hurt people. They would be worried about being caught. As much as I love being alone in the house, I am actually really scared of it.

She told me not to watch crime films/tv programmes before bed as I do like them and she said they might be feeding my fear

I have the same fear. Movies, tv, & videogames really help me keep my mind away from worrying about being alone! And it's almost stupid for me to think anyone could break in. I live in a gated condominium with a locked gate outside of my locked door, 17 stories up in the air!! Fear can get the best of us very easily, so I am glad you are working through it for your own peace of mind. :P

Thanks Shayatanica,

I need to get over the fear but I am worried as I am staying in my Brother's house as of Monday night while he is on Holiday for a week. Then today my Mum informed me she is unsure if my Brother's shed had been broken into as the door was open.... gee thanks!!