Charlotte Dialectical Behavior Therapist (DBT) shares Helpful Coping Strategies to reduce extreme emotions, like anxiety and irritability, around the Holidays
Bareiter Counseling DBT Therapists for Anxiety and Stress shares helpful coping strategies for the Holiday Season
Family and friend relationships around the Holidays can lead to increased stress levels that can lead to anxiety and irritability. For some, the holidays are exciting and full of fun activities that include joyful, warm, meaningful moments with family and friends. The holiday can be a challenging time of distress, tension, anxiety, loneliness, pain, and fear. Nevertheless, it can include both eustress (positive stress) and distress (negative stress). Change in our routines, finances, environments, eating, exercise, and relationships are stressful, as change equals stress (eustress and distress).
Two Coping strategies for reducing and managing stress and extreme emotions, like anxiety and irritation around the Holiday Season
Coping skills to change your body chemistry to reduce intense emotions, like anxiety and irritability, associated with stress
- Intense Exercise can calm down your body revved up by emotional stress.
- Engage in intense exercise, if only for a short while.
- Release your bodies stored up physical energy by running, sprinting, walking fast,
- Jumping, playing a sport, lifting weights, etc.
- Paired muscle relaxation with breathing out
- While breathing into your belly, keep tensing your body muscles (not so much as to cause a cramp)
- Notice the tension in your body.
- While breathing out, say the word “Relax” in your mind.
- Let go of the tension.
- Notice the difference in your body.
Going Deeper: Therapy for managing Stress and Intense Emotions in Charlotte
These are two examples of many distress tolerance skills found in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills training that can be helpful to anyone experiencing extreme emotions caused by various stressors and triggers. Talk therapy can be a valuable way to explore this stress and intense emotions as it can increase understanding and awareness of the underlying causes of extreme emotional reactions. Practicing and learning the skills mentioned above can reduce the intense emotions and barriers that contribute to feeling “stuck.” Skills training can assist in accessing the ability to process and understand the purpose of emotions or underlying issues related to them to manage them more effectively. I have advanced training in DBT and would be honored to do deeper with you to explore and assist in teaching skills to manage these intense emotions. Visit Bareitercc.com to learn more or call 704-334-0524 to make an appointment today.
