Lecture 53- Emotion-Focused Coping-I — Transcript

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1. 0:17Namaskar friends, we are back with
2. 0:20lecture three of module 11 of the stress
3. 0:24management course. And as I promised in
4. 0:27this lecture, we will talk about the
5. 0:31coping strategies focusing on emotion
6. 0:35regulation.
7. 0:36In the earlier two lectures, we talked
8. 0:39about the problem focused strategies and
9. 0:42now we will be dealing with the
10. 0:45strategies which focus more on
11. 0:48regulating our emotions and allowing a
12. 0:52constructive and socially approved way
13. 0:55to release the pentup negative emotions.
14. 0:59So here is the precap. There will be two
15. 1:03main segments of this lecture. The first
16. 1:06one talking about what an emotion
17. 1:09focused coping strategy is and how it
18. 1:12helps in reducing the experience of a
19. 1:15stressed. And the second part will talk
20. 1:19about some of the strategies that can be
21. 1:22used for this purpose. Whereas all
22. 1:26others will be listed in lecture four
23. 1:30which will come in sequence to this
24. 1:33particular lecture.
25. 1:35So let us begin with the discussion of
26. 1:38the emotionfocused coping. Basically
27. 1:42this emotionfocused coping focuses on
28. 1:46the reducing emotional distress caused
29. 1:50by any stressor present in our
30. 1:54surroundings.
31. 1:56It may be due to some external problem
32. 2:00or it may be due to some internal
33. 2:03problem.
34. 2:05It uses the positive way through which
35. 2:10uh we can release our emotions or uh
36. 2:14instead of focusing more on the negative
37. 2:18ways
38. 2:20which are the defense mechanisms of
39. 2:22denial or avoidance. You know basically
40. 2:26what happens that both the things
41. 2:29defense mechanism is also an an emotion
42. 2:34focused coping strategy. And here are
43. 2:39some more emotion focused coping
44. 2:41strategies which provides relief from
45. 2:45negative emotions by releasing them in
46. 2:49appropriate manner or by transforming
47. 2:52them to more positive emotions. So what
48. 2:57what we have to do as an individual we
49. 3:00have to take resort on the constructive
50. 3:05emotion focused strategies instead of
51. 3:09going for the defense mechanisms
52. 3:12then it aims to regulate the emotion in
53. 3:16the face of a stressor. So whenever we
54. 3:19are confronting the stressor head on we
55. 3:23must not be overwhelmed by the negative
56. 3:26emotions because if we get overwhelmed
57. 3:29what will happen? This will reduce our
58. 3:32capacity to think. This will reduce our
59. 3:35capacity to focus on what is happening
60. 3:39in the surroundings so that we can miss
61. 3:43certain important aspect of it. These
62. 3:47important aspects can be pivotal in
63. 3:51successful solution of the problem. But
64. 3:54I simply could not notice them because I
65. 3:58was busy with my own emotions.
66. 4:01My own emotions which were so high which
67. 4:05consumes most of my cognitive resources.
68. 4:09Right? So it differs from problem
69. 4:13focused coping strategies which actually
70. 4:17ask me to change the situation. What I'm
71. 4:20doing here I'm trying to change myself
72. 4:24by working on my own emotional states.
73. 4:29So
74. 4:31here are some techniques that can be
75. 4:33used. The first and foremost thing
76. 4:37express your emotions. Okay. You can
77. 4:40express it by writing, by talking to
78. 4:44someone or you can engage in some sort
79. 4:47of artistic endeavors like you know uh
80. 4:50you can make a painting, you can sing a
81. 4:54song. And friends, you might have
82. 4:56noticed an interesting thing. Whenever
83. 4:59you are in good mood, you enjoy the
84. 5:03tune, the rhythm of the music. But
85. 5:06whenever you are in sad mood, you focus
86. 5:09more on lyrics.
87. 5:11When you are in good mood, you choose
88. 5:14songs which are vibrant, which are you
89. 5:18know uh joyful.
90. 5:21Whereas whenever we are in depressed
91. 5:24mood, automatically our focus shifts to
92. 5:29songs which represents the same kind of
93. 5:32emotions, you know. So if this is so if
94. 5:35there is such a strong connection
95. 5:38between our emotions and the kind of
96. 5:41content we are choosing, can we try it
97. 5:45the other way around? Can we try a
98. 5:48particular kind of content
99. 5:51to change our emotions that we are
100. 5:53feeling?
101. 5:56You can do that. Just try and see what
102. 6:00happens. Similarly,
103. 6:03you can paint something, you can draw
104. 6:06something
105. 6:07to express yourself.
106. 6:10This really helps in releasing your
107. 6:13emotions in a safe and socially approved
108. 6:17manner.
109. 6:19Then engaging in mindful exercises and
110. 6:23meditation
111. 6:25has been found to be very effective to
112. 6:28lower the stress levels by increasing
113. 6:31the level of endorphins in our system
114. 6:35which are known as happy hormones.
115. 6:38Uh this particular thing has been
116. 6:41supported in many researches. One of
117. 6:44them is mentioned here which has been
118. 6:47found uh where the guided imagery or
119. 6:52progressive muscle relaxation have been
120. 6:55found to be very effective ways to relax
121. 7:00the system and have a feeling of
122. 7:03calmness.
123. 7:05One must spend reasonable time in
124. 7:09self-care. Also one can participate in
125. 7:13activities which uh uh can bring
126. 7:17relaxation, enjoyment. It could be
127. 7:20reading a favorite novel or spending
128. 7:23some times doing gardening or with the
129. 7:25pet or doing a light exercise. Anything
130. 7:30can be done
131. 7:32and such kind of enjoyable activities
132. 7:37must be intentionally incorporated into
133. 7:41the daily routine in the face of a
134. 7:44stress.
135. 7:46Social support is again and again a big
136. 7:50thing. Try to spend time with those who
137. 7:55really know you, who understand you, and
138. 7:59whom you can rely upon. This really
139. 8:03gives you enormous support.
140. 8:07Even if they can't do anything to
141. 8:10improve the situation for you and they
142. 8:13simply lend their ears to you, they
143. 8:16simply listen to you. They give time and
144. 8:19they simply give a gesture that okay I
145. 8:23understand what is happening with you
146. 8:25what is happening in your life or I
147. 8:28really appreciate the kind of effort
148. 8:31that you are making to deal with all
149. 8:34kind of stresses around you. This is a
150. 8:38big kind of motivation for the person
151. 8:41who is amid such a stressful situation.
152. 8:46Engaging in emotion regulation
153. 8:50strategies like deep breathing,
154. 8:53visualization of outcomes in advance
155. 8:58or exercising to manage emotions
156. 9:02effectively
157. 9:04are of really use.
158. 9:07Then self-compassion and self-kindness
159. 9:10must be nurtured. Friends, we will come
160. 9:13back to this point self-compassion and
161. 9:16self-kindness in module 12 again as a
162. 9:20part of the life skill uh strategies.
163. 9:25Cognitive reframing also helps. So
164. 9:29whenever we are in stressful situations,
165. 9:32we can simply think of
166. 9:35transforming
167. 9:38uh more difficult circumstances
168. 9:41into optimistic or controllable
169. 9:45circumstances. Okay. So if I have to
170. 9:49cover so much of the syllabus before
171. 9:52examination and I keep on thinking that
172. 9:55okay uh still 10 chapters are to be
173. 9:58read, still 10 chapters are to be
174. 10:01prepared. A lot of work is pending.
175. 10:05What if I think I have prepared four
176. 10:08chapters?
177. 10:10I can also prepare two more chapters in
178. 10:14this week.
179. 10:15So thinking in terms of what I have done
180. 10:19and what I'm capable of doing is more
181. 10:23effective in managing my emotions as
182. 10:27compared to if I think continuously in
183. 10:31terms of what I cannot do or what is
184. 10:34pending.
185. 10:37Similarly,
186. 10:39trying to confront one's pessimistic
187. 10:43approach
188. 10:44by logical reasoning is again very
189. 10:49important. If I think things will not go
190. 10:53right in future,
191. 10:55try to ask yourself why do you think so?
192. 11:00What is the reason behind such thinking?
193. 11:03What is the logic or point behind
194. 11:06continuously
195. 11:08uh
196. 11:10predicting negative consequences for
197. 11:12future?
198. 11:14Try to argument with yourself. Try to
199. 11:18challenge your illogical false beliefs
200. 11:23that push you towards pessimism and
201. 11:27hopelessness.
202. 11:28This is the basic uh technique of
203. 11:32cognitive behavior therapy that we can
204. 11:36uh discuss at some other opportune time.
205. 11:40Then relaxation technique. Any kind of
206. 11:43relaxation technique. Whatever you find
207. 11:45suitable for yourself. May it be
208. 11:48progressive muscle relaxation or
209. 11:51visualisation or guided imagery or yog
210. 11:54or tai chi or anything like that will
211. 11:58help you a lot. Humor is a very
212. 12:02important factor that most of us lack in
213. 12:06our life.
214. 12:08See what happens that if I try to remove
215. 12:12something from my cognitive or
216. 12:14behavioral repertoire
217. 12:17a void will be created there an empty
218. 12:21space will be created there
219. 12:24and you know we can't live with empty
220. 12:27spaces definitely something will come
221. 12:30and fill that space
222. 12:34that something which comes and fills
223. 12:36that space can be appropriate, it can be
224. 12:40inappropriate.
225. 12:42So it is better to not only think about
226. 12:47removing the
227. 12:50uh you know illogical or selfdefeating
228. 12:54thoughts
229. 12:56but also to think about substituting
230. 13:00those thoughts with more appropriate
231. 13:03ones. This is what we have been doing
232. 13:06for cognitive restructuring or for
233. 13:08reappraisal uh of the situation. So what
234. 13:12we have to do here is if the same thing
235. 13:15is to be done with the emotions also. So
236. 13:18if I am feeling very depressed, very
237. 13:21hopeless, very distressed,
238. 13:24I can think substituting my negative
239. 13:27emotions with humor, with healthy humor.
240. 13:32Yeah. Okay. So uh I guess in last module
241. 13:36also we talked about these things and we
242. 13:39find that if I'm feeling low I can read
243. 13:44something funny I can watch a movie
244. 13:47which is very humorous you know funny
245. 13:49movies light-hearted books can be
246. 13:52written or in a very tensed environment
247. 13:56of the boardroom or at home if the
248. 14:00environment is very tensed and someone
249. 14:02simply cracks a joke over there
250. 14:05immediately it reduces the distress
251. 14:08which have been felt by everybody and
252. 14:12increases
253. 14:13humor in the mind of people. So humor in
254. 14:17itself is a very effective thing that
255. 14:20one can engage in. Then comes
256. 14:24spirituality that is connecting oneself
257. 14:28with the larger universe. Connecting
258. 14:31oneself with the supreme power. No
259. 14:35matter in which form in which name we uh
260. 14:42identify with that spiritual spiritual
261. 14:46power. But of course if I uh try to
262. 14:50connect myself with that power it can
263. 14:53give me a lot of relief you know. So
264. 14:56what happens that the prayers that we
265. 15:00offer the meditation that we do or
266. 15:04simply the communication that we
267. 15:07establish with the mother nature.
268. 15:10Everything has a capacity to enhance my
269. 15:14positive vibes and to reduce the feeling
270. 15:17of distress.
271. 15:21Leisure time activities have a special
272. 15:25role in emotion regulation
273. 15:28because they can quickly bring in
274. 15:30happiness. You know uh sometimes we say
275. 15:35that uh okay shopping is a stress buster
276. 15:38or this is this particular activity is
277. 15:41very uh soothing for me. It can do
278. 15:44wonders and it is very relaxing. Some
279. 15:47people used to play with soft balls.
280. 15:50They used to crush it and they used to
281. 15:52uh you know crunch it multiple times and
282. 15:55they find it very relaxing. So any kind
283. 15:58of activity that can bring relaxation to
284. 16:01my system can be adopted according to my
285. 16:06own choice, according to my own uh
286. 16:10convenience and according to the
287. 16:12availability of the uh material or
288. 16:16resources.
289. 16:20So these were the techniques we can bank
290. 16:23on. There are some more. I will talk
291. 16:26about them in the next segment. But for
292. 16:30now, let us have a recap of what we have
293. 16:33learned. We have learned that emotion
294. 16:37focused coping is a technique of
295. 16:39managing stress by focusing on reducing
296. 16:43the emotional distress
297. 16:46experienced by the individual rather
298. 16:49than changing the environment.
299. 16:53Similarly, we talked about a number of
300. 16:57emotion focused coping strategies like
301. 17:00uh emotional expression, then
302. 17:03mindfulness, meditation, self-care,
303. 17:07social support, emotion regulation
304. 17:13that is by enhancing one's emotional
305. 17:16intelligence. Right? the cognitive
306. 17:19reframing or restructuring of the
307. 17:21situation. Uh then relaxation techniques
308. 17:25can be utilized inducing humor into the
309. 17:29situation can give a lot of relief to
310. 17:33us. Then spirituality and leisure
311. 17:36activities are also important. So taking
312. 17:40together such activities can support
313. 17:43individuals in processing and reducing
314. 17:47challenging emotions successfully.
315. 17:50That was all for this particular
316. 17:53segment. These are the references to
317. 17:56enhance your understanding of the topic.
318. 18:01A few more.
319. 18:05Thank you very much for your patient
320. 18:07listening.