Coping with Strong Uncomfortable Emotions

Here is an example image of how to cope with a strong emotion. In this case, the example is panic. To make your own version- map out the trajectory of how this strong emotion was over the last time it came up - showing the peaks (e.g. anxiety, panic, anger, fear) and the valleys (e.g. numb, depression, apathy, shut down) and everything in between. Map out this emotion from when it began to when it subsided OR if it is too hard to identify that clearly, map out how it shifted and changed throughout the course of a 24 hour period.

Next, label the feeling or situations that impacts those feelings on the top of the bell curve top/in one color. For example, you might highlight “argument with my boyfriend” or “was late to work and that set off a ruminating cycle of things I have done wrong lately”. After that, label the coping tools you think were helpful/might be helpful in that moment on the bottom/in a different color. Use this to help you identify specific coping tools and strengths you can utilize when distress begins, as it is peaking, at it’s peak, and as it falls. Remember that no uncomfortable emotions are a constant- they will peak and fall - some will go away completely and some will peak and decrease, but there is is always movement.

Brief imagine description: A blue line peaks, falls, some small peaks, dips, and then evens out- this line is meant to represent the rise and fall of panic in response to a specific trigger. On the top of the line are specific descriptions of what is happening in that moment - e.g. heart rate decreases, starting to calm down, numb/exhausted- and on the bottom of the line are specific descriptions of coping tools to implement in that moment (e.g. breathing exercises, cuddling a pet, biofeedback from tracking heart rate, tensing and relaxing muscles).