When we hurt ourselves physically, we don’t think twice about getting first aid or visiting our family doctor if the symptoms are serious enough, but what about emotional injuries?
According to Guy Winch PhD, author of the Squeaky Wheel and TED Talks presenter, psychological injuries have the same risks to our emotional well-being as physical ones do to our physical health.
However, we don’t rush to the doctor every time we have a cough or a scrape. Most of the time, we are perfectly able to nurse ourselves back to health without professional medical intervention. The same could be true when it comes to small psychological injuries.
If we apply emotional first aid when we sustain a small psychological injury, says Dr. Winch, we should be able to nurse ourselves back to emotional health without the assistance of a mental health professional.
Here are several ways to learn how to practice emotional first aid:
1. Pay attention to emotional pain — recognize it when it happens and work to treat it before it feels all-encompassing.
2. Redirect your gut reaction when you fail. Learn to ignore the post-failure “gut” reaction of feeling helpless and demoralized, and make a list of factors that you can control were you to try again. For instance, think about preparation and planning, and how you might improve each of them. This kind of exercise will reduce feelings of helplessness and improve your chances of future success.
3.Monitor and protect your self-esteem. When you feel like putting yourself down, take a moment to be compassionate to yourself. You are awesome.
4.When negative thoughts are taking over, disrupt them with positive distraction. The best way to disrupt unhealthy rumination is to distract yourself by engaging in a task that requires concentration, for example, complete a crossword or organize your photos. Studies show that even two minutes of distraction will reduce the urge to focus on the negative unhealthily.
It’s important to remember however, if you feel you cannot handle the situation you are in or if these strategies or other strategies do not seem to work, contact your local health professional. You do not need to suffer in silence. Your emotional well-being is important.
