Alternative Coping Mechanisms for Dealing with Parents

Something I learned about a lot in therapy (and was very effective for me) was doing the "opposite of the emotion action urges." Basically, every emotion/condition (e.g. depression) comes with "emotion action urges" meaning there are things that that feeling makes you want to do. Depression, for example, makes you want to isolate, crawl back in bed, close the curtains, not eat, not do anything, etc. And the crazy thing about these action urges is that they will actually reaffirm the original emotion. So, by doing all the things your depression makes you want to do, you are reaffirming the depressed mood. To fix/fight that, you have to try to do the opposite of what the urge is. You really want to get back in bed? Stand up. Want to stay inside? Go for a short walk. Don't feel like eating? Have a small snack. It doesn't have to be big things. It doesn't have to be "want to stay inside? Go run a marathon." Do what is accessible. If all you can do today is stand up out of bed and eat a snack, that's still a win. Maybe tomorrow you could try going outside. Does that make sense? This isn't to say that the problem of depression is as simple as "just do the opposite." Meds and therapy are still very important. This is a strategy, though, that you can start working on now while you also get/take meds and go to therapy. Lots of love ❤️

When I need to cope with things, I either busy myself with my yarn crafts or read on Choices