In this section we share our knowledge about emotions, how they affect us, and how we can learn to control them so that they do not control us.
A crisis is a transitory state of intense distress in which you encounter difficulties while dealing with the situation by using the usual or already known methods.
Crises are experienced as short-term situations in which finding a resolution is urgent and cannot be postponed
The first thing to consider is whether it is a problem that you can solve at that exact moment:
1) If it is possible, solve the problem
2) If it is not possible, then cope with the crisis in the best way possible.
Emotions are multiple experiences: this means that they are made up of physiological and neurobiological responses, bodily sensations and thoughts. All these phenomena constitute an emotional response.
Understanding your emotional response to different events will help decrease the intensity of your emotions and will allow you to listen to what they have to say to you.
All of us have the ability to feel the same emotions. Emotions drive actions, save us time and help us overcome obstacles.
Strong emotions help us overcome obstacles, and save us reaction time (we don't always have to think about everything)
While experiencing an emotion, our facial expressions and body posture communicate faster than words and show how we feel to others.
Emotions point us out the things that we like and the things that we don't like. They are signs that something is happening to us and that somehow that matters to us.
Facts are those things that actually happen in a situation. Our emotions are a response to such situation and can vary from person to person.
If our emotions lead us to ignore the facts, that may be a problem. Emotions can be very useful if they lead us to check the facts of a certain situation.
Identifying the emotion we are feeling helps decrease emotional intensity.
One way to understand your emotions is by identifying the following factors:
Emotional experiences are transitory and if they start, they also end.
All emotional responses have a triggering, something that causes them. Identifying it helps to understand emotions.
When someone is feeling an emotion, they may notice changes in body sensations
Connect with your body when you are experiencing an emotion and identify in which part of your body you sense that feeling the most.
All emotions have a meaning for those who experience them and depend on different factors, such as the history of that person and the things that are happening at that moment.
We may feel fear even if there is no actual threat or feel anger even if someone is trying to be nice. Identifying the facts first in the situation is a good way to distinguish them from our emotions and assumptions.
Distress tolerance skills help to sustain painful emotions without making the moment worse.
In moments of intense distress and when we cannot solve the problem at that moment, distraction can be useful to regulate emotions.
Being able to find ways to calm ourselves is helpful in difficult times.
Look for things (textures, music, sensations, readings) that help you calm yourself down.
As emotions cause bodily changes, bodily changes also influence emotions (cold or heat, for example, can influence your emotional experience)
There are many ways to improve a difficult moment, it is important that you find yours by practicing:
Accepting the emotional experience implies being able to stay with it without having to get rid of it immediately, trying to get to know it with curiosity, listening to what it has to inform you and accepting that emotion in the present moment so that you can then choose what action to take.
Our behaviors have events that generate them and also have consequences. If we can identify them, that will give us the clue as to what role they come to fulfill. The function refers to the meaning that this behavior has in that context in which it occurs, the change that it generates in you and in others. Some problem behaviors (such as self-injurious behaviors) have the function of relieving discomfort in the moment. The problem is that they do not usually solve things in the long term and often even make them worse
Observe the intention and then the effect that the behavior has on you and others. Evaluate whether the effect it has serves to achieve an intention in the long term. Evaluate if it is the most effective conduct to take at the moment
One of the ways to feel less vulnerable is by maintaining a balanced sleep and eating routine. Sleeping or eating poorly increases vulnerability to "negative" emotions