Do you ever notice yourself avoiding, withdrawing or suppressing (what we perceive as) “negative” emotions as they come up? This is a form of emotional processing, and a natural way we try (and sometimes successfully) avoid the sadness, grief, anger, and all the emotions that naturally come up for us as humans. When we find ourselves entering a depressive headspace, it might be helpful for us to embrace and potentially even lean into the experience. The first gentle invitation I offer, is to lean into the experience by becoming aware, and naming what is coming up for you. As elementary as this sounds, it is helpful in the way where we have full awareness of what our body is feeling, and now have language to describe it. After some deep and intentional breathing, ask yourself with love- How am I feeling right now? What is coming up for me right now? Sit with your truth, even if it's for a few moments.
Great, you’ve located your emotional experience and have found a name, and some language to identify exactly what it is that is coming up for you. Now what? Now that we have full awareness, what do we do next? Now this part comes with two options. Depending on our emotional capacity and bandwidth, we can tend to and take care of our emotions, or we can sit in our experience as long as we need to.
Here are 4 different and gentle ways we can cope with and tend to our depressive symptoms.
1. Crying. Research shows that crying releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, also known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals help ease both physical and emotional pain. If you have the space, time, and capacity to do so, you might benefit from allowing yourself permission for emotional release.
2. Expression, and release of both emotions and thoughts. Whether it looks like calling a loved one for emotional support, or opening up a private journal or notebook and expressing some of your most pressing emotions. These simple gestures towards self, are acts that allow permission for our emotions to externalize out of our body, and onto paper. Without judgment, and without intention to fix. We sit with our truth, and often that is what our bodies are desperately asking from us.
3. Leaning into supportive videos, books, music, podcasts, media that will offer you comfort, relief, and even some spiritual guidance. It can be easy for us to fall into feeling lost, when we are in the depth of a depressive symptom or episode. Lean into a trusted media writer, poet, artist, priest, meditation teacher, yoga teacher, spiritual influencer, etc, that you have (trusted) and used for support in the past.
4. Unplug and gently move into the next activity. Activity that is unrelated to mental health, or healing. Whether it is a funny movie, standup routine, connecting with loved ones and friends, planning for an upcoming event, cleaning up your home and space, and even just taking a shower with music. You’ve taken the time to sit with your emotions, and symptoms. You’ve validated your experience, reasoned with it, and took some time to understand what is going on. You've offered yourself gentle love and compassion. You have taken responsibility to care for yourself and emotionally regulate. Understanding this too shall pass may be helpful in these moments. Continue caring for yourself as needed, and unplugging as needed.
Having depression is by no means an easy experience. As mental health professionals, we are here to support you. Wellness Tree Counseling LCSW is here to serve, and support you in your mental health, and healing journey. Visit our website to learn more about our services and schedule your free consultation to explore if we might be a good fit for you and your mental health needs. Healing is within reach.
Sources:
Harvard. March 1st, 2021. “Is Crying Good for You?” https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-crying-good-for-you-2021030122020#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20established%20that%20crying,both%20physical%20and%20emotional%20pain.
National Library of Medicine. Table 9, DSM-IV to DSM-5 Major Depressive Episode/Disorder Comparison. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519712/table/ch3.t5/
About Wellness Tree Counseling...
Our mission at Wellness Tree Counseling is to promote wellness through a culturally sensitive lens so that individuals, families and communities are encouraged to rise to their full potential and engage life in meaningful ways.
Our vision is to provide the BIPOC community with comprehensive holistic care that empowers and equips them with skills to work toward improved mental health and well-being. We take great pride in treating the whole-person.
At Wellness Tree Counseling, we value treating our clients and community with C.A.R.E. (Compassion, Affirming, Respect, & Empathy).
To learn more about our services, please visit www.wellnesstreecounseling.com
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