This is the third week of January. The Monday on the third week of January has been designated ‘Blue Monday’ because it is associated with people experiencing feelings of very low mood. This is believed to be related to the post-Christmas slump, reality hitting home with the arrival of credit card bills, the short days and the bad weather. In addition to all of that, this year we have the pressures of lockdown and the Covid crisis to add to the mix.
This seems a good time to focus on some principles of self-care and managing feelings of anxiety and low mood.
Shelby Franklin states in her article below that there are 5 Types of Self-Care for your Mental Health: Physical; Emotional; Psychological; Spiritual; and Professional. All these areas interlink. If a person is not applying a level of self-care in one area, it will detrimentally impact on the other areas. There are some basics that fall into the physical area, for example, eating enough, eating healthy food, keeping hydrated, not indulging or over-indulging in smoking, drugs or alcohol and keeping up a level of exercise. Emotional self-care means giving yourself the space to feel emotions and recognising that they are valid. But it also means living in the moment and that means accepting that our feelings will pass, that they are reflections of how we are, not who we are. A basic of psychological self-care, is the recognition that our thoughts are not truth or reality; thoughts can be challenged. Spiritual self-care can mean linking into religious or philosophical beliefs for a level of nourishment or fulfilment. It can also mean getting in touch with that part of us that is looking for answers or peace. Professional self-care is vital for those us in employment at this time, with the stresses and strains that the Covid situation are placing on us from many different sources.
Focussing on psychological self-care, many psychological interventions encourage people who are affected by anxiety to challenge or rationalise the thoughts they have which trigger their anxious emotions. It is a fundamental of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. According to one study, (see the Korba article linked below), we talk to ourselves at a rate equivalent to 4000 words per minute. Rationally, not all of that self-talk can be the truth. Human beings have vivid imaginations, which is why we love stories. Given that level of self-chatter, some of the tales we are weaving will be a creative interpretation of what we are experiencing, not based solely on the evidence available. Clinical psychologist, Ayanna Abrams, observes that research has shown that resistance to a thought or emotion, because we fear it, can reinforce the strength of that thought to reoccur: “Oftentimes, anxiety becomes amplified because we quickly and aggressively try to push it away or deny that it exists, versus letting it move through you and realizing that it even will eventually lessen.”
Ethan Kross is a psychologist and neuroscientist at Michigan University who has just published a book on his work and research at the University’s Emotion and Self Control Lab. He has determined that internal dialogue can be paralysing and self-sabotaging. One technique he recommends for helping to calm anxiety is talking to oneself in the third person, even addressing yourself by your own name. He calls this ‘distanced self-talking’ and describes it as a ‘psychological hack’ which his experiments have shown to be one of the fastest and most straightforward ways of gaining emotional perspective. Read the Rachel Cooke article below for more about Kross and his work.
Remember, if you find yourself feeling anxious or believe you need some help with your self-care, the University’s Employee Assistance Programme can be contacted 24 hours a day for assistance: 0808 168 2143. It’s there even if you simply feel you need someone to talk to.
‘5 Types of Self-Care for Your Mental Health’: Shelby Franklin on themighty.com
‘What is Emotional Self-Care?’ by Diane Alkier on her blog
‘Emotional Self-Care: the Key to Good Quality of Life’ on exploringyourmind.com
‘8 Emotional Self-Care Strategies: Learn to Take Care of Yourself Emotionally’ on aconsciousrethink.com
‘22 Ways to Practice Emotional Self-Care and Letting Go’ on habtsforwellbeing.com
‘Keys for Emotional Self-Care During Lockdown’ on exploringyourmind.com
‘4 Expert-Backed Strategies For Challenging Anxious Thoughts’ by Emma Loewe on mindbodygreen.com (references Ayanna Abrams)
‘The Rate of Inner Speech’: research article by Rodney J Korba published on Sage Journals
‘Why your most important relationship is with your inner voice’: by Rachel Cooke on The Guardian website, discussion with Ethan Kross