Mireille and Adam discuss coping skills and strategies for managing emotions, including SMART goals and the HALT concept. They explore various coping strategies such as grounding, deep breathing, and visualization. They also discuss the importance of distress tolerance and practicing coping skills. Additionally, they talk about rewarding effort, delaying reactions, and addressing difficult conversations in a better state of mind.
Setting achievable goals and viewing emotions as skills to be developed are important coping strategies.
Recognizing and addressing hunger, anger, loneliness, and tiredness can greatly improve our ability to cope with emotions.
Deep dives
Coping is like learning how to surf
Coping with emotions and unexpected experiences in life is similar to learning how to surf. Both require practice, adaptability, and managing reactions to the ups and downs. Avoidance is not an effective coping strategy, as it reinforces the difficulty and can make it harder to face similar challenges in the future. Instead, starting small and setting achievable goals can build resilience and confidence. Viewing emotions as a skill to be developed and knowing that progress takes time and effort is key.
HALT: The importance of self-care
Taking care of ourselves is crucial for effective coping. The acronym HALT reminds us that hunger, anger, loneliness, and tiredness can diminish our ability to cope with emotions. Recognizing and addressing these needs allows us to navigate challenges more effectively. Planning and front-loading can also help us manage overwhelming tasks by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable steps, boosting our confidence and sense of accomplishment.
Grounding and naming emotions
Grounding techniques and naming emotions can help regulate and manage overwhelming feelings. Engaging our senses in the present moment, such as noticing what we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste, can redirect our attention and provide a sense of stability. By naming our emotions, we can activate both our emotional processing and language centers in the brain, allowing for better understanding, perspective, and problem-solving.
Exercise as a coping strategy
Exercise is a powerful coping strategy that releases dopamine, a mood-enhancing chemical in the brain. Physical movement, whether it's a structured workout or simply engaging in activities like walking or biking, not only discharges energy and stress but also improves brain plasticity and cognitive flexibility. Exercise can help us develop resilience and navigate emotions more adaptively, leading to overall mental and emotional well-being.
Mireille and Adam discuss coping skills and strategies to use when managing the emotions and struggles of everyday life. We talk through some common ways people manage their emotions, strategies for emotional coping, as well as problem solving coping.
We discussed the concept of SMART goals — they are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and based on a specific time frame.
We discussed the concept of HALT. Are you hungry, angry, lonely or tired? If so, coping will invariably be different, regardless of your age.
We also discussed several examples of emotional coping strategies:
Name it to tame it
Grounding - Our senses are real-time, so orienting yourself to what you can see, smell, taste, touch, or hear will give you a realistic view of your circumstances and environment.