Lecture 54- Emotion-Focused Coping-II — Transcript

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1. 0:17Namaskar. I'm Shubra Sennha, your course
2. 0:19instructor and we are about to learn
3. 0:23some more emotion focused strategies
4. 0:27as a part of lecture 4 of module 11 of
5. 0:32the stress management course.
6. 0:36Friends, as I promised, I'm back with a
7. 0:39few more emotionfocused coping
8. 0:43strategies.
9. 0:45Some of the earlier strategies have been
10. 0:48elaborated and some new are added in
11. 0:52this book for you. Then we will talk
12. 0:56about the advantages of employing
13. 1:00emotion regulation strategies as a part
14. 1:04of reducing distress
15. 1:08created to us. And finally we will talk
16. 1:12about the importance of using problem
17. 1:17focused and emotion focused strategies
18. 1:21simultaneously
19. 1:23for best results.
20. 1:26Let us start our discussion.
21. 1:30So we talked about emotional expression
22. 1:34in lecture three.
23. 1:37The easiest and safest way of emotional
24. 1:41expression is journaling.
25. 1:44Journaling simply refers to an action of
26. 1:48writing about your emotional experiences
27. 1:52that
28. 1:54you are undergoing.
29. 1:57This allows you to dump the negative
30. 2:02emotion in a very safe manner.
31. 2:07See what happens that if you discuss
32. 2:10your true emotions, your deep emotions
33. 2:14with someone else, sometimes
34. 2:17you may suffer the fear of leaking those
35. 2:23informations. What if the person whom
36. 2:27you have uh uh dependent upon uh whom
37. 2:31you relied upon to express your emotion
38. 2:36to share your emotion? What if that
39. 2:38person shares it with somebody else?
40. 2:42Or another type of threat which comes to
41. 2:45our mind is what the other person will
42. 2:49think of me. If I tell everything truly
43. 2:55genuinely whatever I'm feeling right now
44. 2:58to that person what will happen to my
45. 3:01image or we can also get threatened by
46. 3:07the fact that it may compromise the
47. 3:11relationship between the other person
48. 3:13and me.
49. 3:15Another kind of fear is that if I tell
50. 3:20about the mistakes that I have committed
51. 3:23or if I tell about the feeling of anger
52. 3:26and aggression and my intentions of
53. 3:30damaging something or hurting somebody.
54. 3:34uh it may cause pain and agony to the
55. 3:38other person also by knowing that how
56. 3:41negative I can think how bad I can feel
57. 3:46about other persons or the situations in
58. 3:50which I'm right now in. So all these
59. 3:54threats many time many times keep me
60. 3:58away from sharing my genuine and honest
61. 4:03feelings with other people.
62. 4:06Journaling is the safest option here. I
63. 4:10will simply write it down whatever I'm
64. 4:13feeling and then I can keep it safe with
65. 4:16me or I can simply tear it into small
66. 4:20pieces and throw it away.
67. 4:24If I'm not feeling relaxed to a
68. 4:28significant extent, I can repeat the
69. 4:31same exercise again. So this is called a
70. 4:35brain dump. A brain dump means whatever
71. 4:39negativity I had in my brain, I'm going
72. 4:42to dump it. The way we used to dump the
73. 4:46you know garbage at a particular place
74. 4:50which is allocated for that and then I
75. 4:53find my house cleaner, better you know
76. 4:57than before.
77. 5:00So this is a safe way because we are not
78. 5:04supposed to share what we have written
79. 5:06with anybody. So there is no question of
80. 5:09leaking of information or uh a threat to
81. 5:13my own image or me hurting the other
82. 5:17people. So a very safe way and it can be
83. 5:20tried several times and you will find
84. 5:23that while you are writing the same
85. 5:25thing third or fourth time not only you
86. 5:28will find a substantial release in the
87. 5:33negative emotions that you are feeling
88. 5:37but sometimes it can also give you a
89. 5:42fresh perspective of looking at the
90. 5:44situation
91. 5:46which you lack. act before when you
92. 5:49started this exercise. Okay. So this is
93. 5:52a very important technique of emotional
94. 5:56expression in the safest way. Then going
95. 6:00for a walk, going for a walk simply
96. 6:04means getting closer to mother nature.
97. 6:08If you step out of your home or your
98. 6:12office to a natural environment in the
99. 6:16vicinity of plants and fresh air and the
100. 6:19sky and whatever landscape is available
101. 6:23there around you, you can immediately
102. 6:27find yourself getting energized by all
103. 6:32these natural things. So having a walk
104. 6:36is again an effective way of elevating
105. 6:40your mood.
106. 6:43Talking to a friend, you may not uh be
107. 6:48talking about the actual feelings that
108. 6:50you are going through or the actual
109. 6:53problem that you are having.
110. 6:56But you can just have a talk about
111. 6:59something else.
112. 7:01Even that talk is capable of releasing
113. 7:03your negative emotions because your
114. 7:06attention will be diverted. See if you
115. 7:09you are fighting with somebody, you are
116. 7:12continuously arguing with somebody and
117. 7:15at the same time someone else enters the
118. 7:19premise and he asks you to engage in
119. 7:23some other important thing. What
120. 7:25happens? Your attention gets diverted
121. 7:29and you start thinking about something
122. 7:32else. Soon you forget about how
123. 7:35intensely you was you were engaged in an
124. 7:39argument with someone else because now
125. 7:41you have something more important to do.
126. 7:45Talking to a friend is like that.
127. 7:48This talking can be used for emotional
128. 7:51expression. You can tell your friend
129. 7:54about your emotions, about your
130. 7:56problems. Up to an extent you find safe,
131. 8:00up to an extent you find comfortable
132. 8:03discussing things, you don't have to
133. 8:05reveal everything to your friend also.
134. 8:08And even if you don't want to discuss
135. 8:11much about your problems, you want to uh
136. 8:14keep them aside for some times, you can
137. 8:17simply start talking to your friend
138. 8:20about many different things uh which are
139. 8:23happening in the world in your life in
140. 8:25your friend's life and soon your
141. 8:27attention will be diverted. So this is a
142. 8:30powerful thing to do here. A friend is
143. 8:34not necessarily a friend only. He or she
144. 8:37can be anyone. Any significant adult in
145. 8:41your life. Can be your mother, can be
146. 8:43your father, can be your sibling, can be
147. 8:46your uncle, aunt or any third person.
148. 8:48Maybe your teacher as well.
149. 8:51Listening to music. I have been
150. 8:53referring to this particular thing in
151. 8:55the first part also when I uh spoke
152. 8:59about expressing your emotions through
153. 9:02uh creativity or through art, through
154. 9:05painting, through music, through
155. 9:07anything else like that. So uh you can
156. 9:12listen to music which carries the
157. 9:15opposite emotion. If I feel low, I can
158. 9:19listen to some good music which is
159. 9:22joyful, which is cheerful, which is
160. 9:24capable of encouraging me for my future
161. 9:28life. So this can help a lot. Then
162. 9:32meditation is of course a very powerful
163. 9:35tool to reduce emotional distress by
164. 9:42controlling the secretion of cortisol
165. 9:46and altering the physiology
166. 9:49of our system. So if I work upon the
167. 9:54physiological side of my being, of
168. 9:58course I'm going to change the emotional
169. 10:01experience up to a great extent. So
170. 10:04meditation
171. 10:06is a very powerful tool to do so. I can
172. 10:10also create some artwork which can be a
173. 10:14painting uh which can be some kind of
174. 10:18you know craft article or anything. H
175. 10:24uh guided imagery which I referred in
176. 10:27earlier segment also is basically a
177. 10:31technique that you uh adopt in order to
178. 10:35feel calm and positive. What happens?
179. 10:39Guided imagery.
180. 10:41There is a set of instruction
181. 10:44which can be used as the guide book.
182. 10:48That instruction can be given by another
183. 10:51person who is a professional counselor
184. 10:53or a therapist or somebody who is
185. 10:56trained in that kind of uh procedure.
186. 11:00The person sits aside
187. 11:03uh and spoke those instructions in a
188. 11:07very soft and mild voice and you have to
189. 11:12follow those instructions and imagine
190. 11:16the things which are being told by that
191. 11:19person. The same thing can be done with
192. 11:23the help of recorded lectures as well.
193. 11:26So if you do not have access to a live
194. 11:31guide, you can take the help of recorded
195. 11:35instructions.
196. 11:36Uh and this practice is uh very
197. 11:40effective in controlling the intensity
198. 11:45of feeling of a stress.
199. 11:48Then
200. 11:50simply inducing movement in your body
201. 11:53part like a stretching, like dancing
202. 11:57can help you in controlling stress and
203. 12:00elevating your mood. Especially dance
204. 12:03has been found to be very effective,
205. 12:06very powerful as a tool to elevate your
206. 12:09mood to motivate you so that you can
207. 12:13engage with the situation in a more
208. 12:17positive way. Deep breathing exercise as
209. 12:21a part of the relaxation technique is
210. 12:26again very helpful. The Indian uh
211. 12:30tradition of pranayyam which is uh
212. 12:33basically
213. 12:35uh a procedure of rhythmic breathing is
214. 12:39very effective along with other deep
215. 12:41breathing exercises.
216. 12:44Uh this calms the mind and body and
217. 12:48refreshes the person to work for uh
218. 12:53improving the situation further.
219. 12:57If I talk about the benefits of
220. 13:00emotionfocused coping,
221. 13:03I can clearly
222. 13:05identify
223. 13:07that first of all denying, ignoring or
224. 13:12discounting emotions
225. 13:15do not help.
226. 13:17It does not help at all.
227. 13:21No matter how hard I try to defy that
228. 13:25okay I'm completely indifferent of what
229. 13:28is going on and I'm very logical and I
230. 13:31always try to think in terms of my
231. 13:34capacities. Ultimately we all are human
232. 13:38beings and emotions are a very essential
233. 13:43elements of our being our existence. So
234. 13:48if I try to simply discount the
235. 13:51importance of emotion, it's not going to
236. 13:54help me. If I'm feeling bad, the first
237. 13:58thing is accept that I'm feeling bad.
238. 14:02Denying this feeling, ignoring this
239. 14:05feeling, thinking that okay, this
240. 14:07feeling is not at all important to me. I
241. 14:10can still keep working. In the long run,
242. 14:14these kind of defense mechanisms yield
243. 14:18very problematic consequences for the
244. 14:21individual.
245. 14:23Sometimes individuals start acting in
246. 14:27the contrasting ways which they should
247. 14:31be doing.
248. 14:33So what happens? Accept one's own
249. 14:36emotion. analyze the appropriateness of
250. 14:39those emotions and causes of those
251. 14:42emotions. Then try to see what can be
252. 14:47done to calm yourself down. Okay. So you
253. 14:52can try all these emotion regulation
254. 14:55techniques which I just referred to and
255. 14:58you can select any one or some of them
256. 15:03which you find suitable for yourself and
257. 15:06then try them out. If you do not get
258. 15:10desired result, you can think using
259. 15:13different combination and permutation of
260. 15:16these emotional
261. 15:18uh emotion focused strategies or you can
262. 15:22also think combining them with problem
263. 15:25focused strategy or appraisal focused
264. 15:28strategies which we are going to talk
265. 15:30about in the upcoming section.
266. 15:33uh this helps you decreasing the toxic
267. 15:36stress. Toxic stress means the loads of
268. 15:41negative emotions which are high energy
269. 15:45emotions like anger, frustration,
270. 15:49anxiety, aggression. Okay, all these are
271. 15:53negative emotions and they are loaded up
272. 15:56with energy as well. So they can create
273. 16:00a lot more harmful hormones in the body
274. 16:05which are commonly known as cortisols
275. 16:08and they not only creates mental health
276. 16:12problems but physical health problems
277. 16:15also. So it is better to deal with them
278. 16:18carefully right then try to be more
279. 16:21present in the current times. What
280. 16:25happens that most of the time we are
281. 16:29engaged in thinking about the negative
282. 16:33things which has which have happened to
283. 16:36us in the past.
284. 16:38What happened in the morning? My boss
285. 16:41has scolded me. Now the whole day I am
286. 16:45remembering the same episode analyzing
287. 16:48every line, every word of it. uh you
288. 16:52know preparing my responses, making them
289. 16:55words. So I'm continuously engaged in
290. 16:59those 15 or 20 minutes of the day,
291. 17:04leaving all the time of the day behind.
292. 17:08Okay. So instead of leaving those 15
293. 17:12minutes for 15 minutes only what I'm
294. 17:15doing I have been living those 15
295. 17:18minutes for maybe another 10 hours.
296. 17:23So this is the problem with most of us.
297. 17:27We re ruminate the thoughts we ruminate
298. 17:30the experiences. We ruminate the uh the
299. 17:34emotional experiences that we have gone
300. 17:36through. So try to leave the thing as we
301. 17:40move on and try to live in present times
302. 17:44instead of getting extremely engaged in
303. 17:48the past experiences.
304. 17:50These strategies are also helpful for
305. 17:54preparing us to address challenges
306. 17:58but
307. 18:00it is not enough to solve the problem.
308. 18:04So they must be combined with strategic
309. 18:08solutions
310. 18:10with problem focused coping strategies
311. 18:14and this will lead us to better results.
312. 18:18Okay. So we have to find out the areas
313. 18:22where problem focused coping is required
314. 18:26and these part of the situation is
315. 18:29changeable and whether the situation is
316. 18:33not changeable and the emotion focused
317. 18:36strategies are required. So basically it
318. 18:39is the finetuning of uh the adaptive
319. 18:43procedure where I am changing myself
320. 18:47according to some parts of the
321. 18:49situations and also changing the
322. 18:52situation according to some aspects of
323. 18:55myself. It is this dynamic adjustment
324. 18:59between the person and the environment
325. 19:02which ultimately leads to the effective
326. 19:05solution of the problem and reducing the
327. 19:08stress successfully.
328. 19:11This was all about the emotion focused
329. 19:15strategies and this is a recap of we
330. 19:18have gone through it involves the
331. 19:22emotion focused coping strategies like
332. 19:26journaling, going for a walk, talking to
333. 19:29a friend, listening to music which can
334. 19:33change our mood, doing some kind of
335. 19:36breathing exercises or guided imagery
336. 19:39exercises. or meditation
337. 19:42and also the I we realize the fact that
338. 19:48alone problem focused or emotion focused
339. 19:52strategies are not enough
340. 19:55rather overuse of any one of them can
341. 20:00lead to exhaustion burnout and
342. 20:04ineffective solution of a stress.
343. 20:08So it is better to use them in an
344. 20:12effective combination.
345. 20:15Keep reviewing them. Keep tuning them
346. 20:19according to the changing scenario for
347. 20:22best results. These are the recommended
348. 20:26readings for enhancement of your
349. 20:29knowledge.
350. 20:31You can select books and journals and
351. 20:35articles according to your choice and
352. 20:37convenience. Whatever is available to
353. 20:41you, here are enough options.
354. 20:45And thank you for being with us, for
355. 20:48being a part of this lecture so
356. 20:51patiently. Thank you very much.