6-Step Guide to Survive Pandemic-Related Distress

Distress is a culmination of an uncomfortable storm of emotions, judgments, resistance, and physical sensations. Depending on a person’s specific triggers, coping skills, brain, and self-understanding, the reaction to distress can range from mild and controlled, to an intense experience of dysregulation and trauma. Triggers of distress come in all shapes and sizes. It can be personal or global, such as this pandemic. Currently, the pandemic is a universal trigger poking and scratching at old wounds, especially experiences that left us feeling powerless and helpless — and it is creating new ones. I’ve written this step-by-step survival guide. First and foremost, you must understand yourself well. Which leads us into Step 1: 1. Increase your self-knowledge & self-awareness. Log your traits, strengths and struggles, interests, and values. Write the emotions hardest for you to regulate (common ones: anger, anxiety, helplessness), and then triggers for each of those emotions. It helps to recount the steps before the ultimate distress hit, and to be as specific as possible. For example:  I was on the internet, felt powerless -> the articles contain a lot of uncertainty, so I kept reading -> felt powerless and confused -> the loss of control feeling hit my “landmine” of when I was once in a traumatic situation I had no control over -> panic attack, then lashed out at my child for not cleaning his room *vulnerability factors: tired, hungry, overwhelmed...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Anxiety and Panic Self-Help Stress coronavirus COVID-19 Mindfulness stress reduction Source Type: blogs