Some information about Coping with Emotions

Hi everyone! to Coping with Emotions.
I thought it might be helpful to have a list of some articles about coping with emotions. I've included a list of a few articles about Coping with Emotions or related subjects I found here at PC.

If anyone has s favorite coping skill, or information they would like to share please feel free to reply to this thread.

General Coping:

• Managing Your Emotions, Part 1
• Managing your Emotions, Part 2
• Coping with Stress
  
• Natural Remedies for Dealing with Stress
• Regulating Stress
• Loneliness
• The Emotionally Sensitive person (blog): Coping Skills section

On Anger Management:

• Mindfully Taming the Anger Within
• Anger Management Class vs Therapy
• Anger Management for Couples

Mindfulness and other techniques

• Mindfulness Blog
• Relaxation and meditation techniques
• How exercise impacts your mental health
• Importance of nutrition

Thanx for the links. I struggle with my emotions.

It's not so much a way of coping with emotions I guess as more troubling thoughts, but when I'm experiencing distressing thoughts I find reciting number sequences helps to focus the mind, generally either mentally listing prime numbers, or more simply looping over 12345432...

These links will help me greatly I didn't realize I was an extra sensitive person until I read a few of them they explained me perfectly and made me understand a lot of the problems in my life.

I greatly thank you for the help. I think this might just help me be a better person to myself even.

Thankful

That's interesting I think I do that to. Why? Like preoccupies the crazy thinking. I cant find it to generally calm my mind though more to distract. Wht else do you do to get your brain to stop

Have you looked into CBT? A lot of it is about re-programming your thoughts. The ones that run around in your head and trigger certain emotions. I find it very hard to stop them. But that is key, I read that emotions are an indication that something is happening. I think it is helpful to write down all the thoughts that are causing the emotions and then it might be easier to stop them.. or rewrite them in your head. This all sounds easy when i explain it, but it is something that I am struggling with. The trouble with having a strong emotion is that you feel it is justified and so you don't normally think to rationalize the emotion in that moment. But even if you do it the following day, it can help. It takes a lot of work.

I do something similar. It's hard for me to just dismiss them though. Usually I debate if they hold some truth to them or not. I can never decide, this frustrates me and I begin to repeat some random phrase or do a math pattern. The phrases seem to make it worse, but the math problems help a lot. It requires attention when the numbers get higher so I can't afford to have intrusive thoughts running in the background. I try to do this in my head, but sometimes I end up whispering or holding my ears. Often I rock in place or pinch myself.
When you're going over number sequences, does it ever show externally? Would a random stranger be able to tell?

i have posted some of this here before, but as the list of skills gets longer, i like to refresh it. i hope some of these things are helpful to people who need them.

learning to tolerate irritating stimuli was a long and difficult process for me. what astonished me the most was, when i finally broke and stopped reacting, the irritant (for me, a barking dog) went away. the universe is a strange place... here are some skills for self-soothing that i hope will help you stay sane (?)..

when emotions become overwhelming, some self-soothing skills~
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when emotions become overwhelming, having the skills to manage them is crucial. even tho the following were developed for anxiety and panic, i have found them to be equally useful for other emotions.

Self Comforting Skills

we are social creatures, but getting what we need when we need it from another is not always available. here are some of the suggestions from the DBT handbook on Self Soothing Skills:

think of soothing each of your FIVE SENSES

1) Vision: Notice what you see, find soothing things to look at.
(i go to a blog that has lovely pictures: C PTSD - A Way Out | A place to check in daily)

2) Hearing: Pay attention to what you can hear around you.
(put on your favorite music...)

3) Smell: Be aware of the memories that smell can bring.
(i like to do aroma therapy. there are many Essential Oils for that.)

4) Taste: Carefully savor flavors that the day brings you.
(keep a favorite hard candy on hand, for the little sugar boost, too.)

5) Touch: Find comfort in touch.
(keep a special pillow or blanket with a favorite perfume on it.)

Self-Sooth

these are not listed, but i find them handy, too:

A) Reassurance: Tell yourself that you are OK, safe and unharmed.
(the danger is past, you have survived this before and now
you are stronger and more skillful than then.)

B) Take Action: Go for a walk, or exercise or clean house or cook. (use your
body's natural focusing powers to leave the emotion behind.)

C) Refocus: Think about pleasant things. Push the hurtful thoughts away.
(have a hobby or a story, or a book that you like, to take your
mind to a better place.)

Coping With Strong Emotions:

1. Remember, strong feelings are just exaggerations of normal bodily stress reactions.

2. Sensations are neither harmful nor dangerous - just unpleasant. Nothing worse will happen.

3. Emotions are temporary. Instead of fighting, relax into it. Just let it be.

4. Focus on facing the feeling rather than trying to avoid it or escape from it.

5. Stop adding to the panic with frightening thoughts of where panic will lead.

6. Stay in the present. Be aware of what is happening to you rather than concern yourself with how much worse it might get.

7. Notice that when you stop adding to panic with frightening thoughts, the fear begins to fade.

8. Wait and give the feeling time to pass.

9. Look around you. Plan what you will do next as the emotion subsides.

10. When you are ready to go on, do so in an easy, relaxed manner. There is no hurry.

11. Think about the progress made so far despite all the difficulties.

Some Specific Actions:

1. Manage your breathing, if it is rapid, breathe into a paper sack to lower oxygen uptake;

2. Count your breaths, 1001, 1002, 1003, ect, up to 1020, then start again, slow down the count to slow your heartbeat. counting interferes with emotional feelings;

3. Delay doing anything about your anxiety or emotion, just follow the steps and focus on getting thru it;

4. Distract yourself, with anything that requires you to focus and is simple and handy - at home you might read something easy, like a magazine, or knit or wash dishes, whatever engages your attention;

5. Eat something to replenish the blood sugars that adrenalin has burned up, and give yourself at least 15 minutes for the kidneys to clean out the 'ashes' in your blood;

6. Write these things down and keep them with you, until you have made them a habit

practice these skills before you need them, or when you are just mildly upset, so they will be familiar when you are feeling very upset. i hope you find this information helpful~

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this is another lovely list, originally posted by 'Can't Stop Crying', which puts anxiety skills in terms of "grounding techniques". perhaps some people can use these ideas in these words better~ thanks, CSC ~!

1. Bring up today’s newspaper on the web, notice the date. Read something fun!

2. Breathe slowly and steadily from your core. Imagine letting fear and worry go, evaporating along with each breath.

3. Trace your hands against the physical outline of your body. Experience your own presence in the world.

4. Call a friend and have a chat.

5. If you are feeling ‘stuck’, change how you’re positioned. Wiggle your fingers, tap your feet. Pay attention to the movement: You are in control of what your body is doing, right here and now.

6. Eat or drink something. Is it hot, or cold? Sweet or sour?

7. Meditate, if that’s OK for you. Otherwise use distractions like television or music to help settle down.

8. Use your voice. Say your name or pick up a book and read the first paragraph you find out loud.

9. Look at yourself in the mirror. Smile, even if that’s the last thing you feel like! How does that feel? What can you see? (If negative thoughts come to mind, write them down to look at later but let them go for now. You’re anxious enough as it is.)

10. Write out what’s going on. Keep writing until you start to notice it makes a difference, lets some of the things you’re anxious about out.

11. Take a shower/bath. Notice the sensations of the water.

12. Write somebody you care about an email.

13. Imagine yourself in a familiar, comfortable place. Feel the safety. Know it.

14. Take a look outside. Count the number of trees and street signs.

15. Exercise. Jump up and down on the spot. Try some gentle yoga, or ride a bike.

16. Hold onto something comforting. Maybe a blanket or an old stuffed toy.

17. Laugh. Even if that’s hard. Just the act of laughing about something, anything can break that spinning out of control feeling.

18. When you’re not too stressed, make a list of the things that provoke your anxiety. Take it to your therapist and ask them to help you find ways to desensitize you to some of those things. Then those triggers won’t be quite so powerful, and your anxiety coping skills will work better.

19. If you get PTSD flashbacks, when you’re feeling OK, make a list of the furniture in your home and what room it’s in. Give the list to a friend you can call to help you focus on what’s now and safe.

20. List 5 really positive things in your life. Put the list where you’ll see it and remember that there’s more to the world than just panic and fear.

21. Think about the last week. Was there a day you didn't have so much anxiety? Remember how it felt to be less anxious than you are right now. What was different? What can change?

getting, practicing, and having the skills to cope with distress is one way to not only feel better, but to also chase away those thoughts and feelings.

best wishes,
Gus

It seems, in few words, that the key is to delay in some way the moment in which we act in relation to the conflict that caused the emotion so your rational part drives you instead of the emotional part.
I guess the aim is sometimes not only delay the moment but avoid to take any action.

For what I have read in this same thread, I particularly liked a technique which consists on doing something that can provide you the oppossite feeling you are experiencing. That is, a simple example, you are sad so you can listen or watch something funny.
The last time a was in depression, one year ago this time, not so long lol! i was very shocked when my psych, then asking me for doing a list of the things I like to do or enjoy, he put the stress on one I have chosen, comedy. He even gave me as a homework see comedy monologues that I really love.

So, guys, whatever you are living, put some humor in your day. It works.

Yes thank you. I always seem to be struggling with my feelings. I'm going to go read them now.

My best coping mechanism regarding emotions is simply to dismiss the thoughts that elicit the emotions, and look right at the emotions themselves. When I cut off the power supply, the emotions begin to dissolve immediately. If the triggering thought or circumstance is strong enough, I might have to do this several times because it soon returns, but with practice this technique really does help me. Also, when I do this repeatedly, I begin to realize that the thought, which triggers the emotion, is secondary to my mind's attachment to the emotion. I don't have to look far to find another trigger if I'm in that frame of mind.

This looks great. It will take me a minute to go through all this and I'm new and dont know what im doing yet. But I am out of control and wonder if I really can apply something to help.

thank you for the links I read them -very interesting

Deep breathing, music, long walks or a good movie. xx

, emotion that express your feelings..............

Thank you for taking the time to do this. Its appreciated.

thank you so much for the links, they're really helpful

I skimmed a few of the links and I saw myself in several of them so I will go back and reread them. Thanks for sharing that information.

Hi
i am new member. Iam suffering from old memories how can i overcome this situation. Plz help

Thank you! i will look into this!