4 years ago · marahaightcmhc · Comments Off on Coping Through Crisis
Coping Through Crisis
All of us will experience a crisis at some point in our lives. The skills and tools we have to help us through these difficult moments play a critical role in our overall wellbeing and long-term recovery.
The Crisis Response
When a situation exceeds our ability to cope, we experience a crisis response. We all have different personal histories and experiences, which means a situation that causes a crisis response for you may not cause the same response for others.
Our brains do one of two things when we experience a crisis – we either become extremely activated and try to “fix” the situation (referred to as hyper-arousal or a fight/flight response), or we shut down and numb (referred to as hypo-arousal or a freeze response) . Our response is automatic, meaning we do not consciously choose one or the other. Our amygdala, the part of the brain that is activated during crisis, is hijacked and uses all of our past experiences to automatically choose the most effective response for the situation.
It isn’t useful to pass judgment on ourselves or others about what events or situations cause this response, or the type of response we have. Rather, we should focus on finding skillful ways to cope when we notice we are experiencing a crisis response.
Coping in Crisis
The first and most important coping skill during a crisis is self-compassion. When we are caught in shame or self-judgement, we are more likely to use unhelpful coping methods to distract or numb our experience. Practicing self-compassion can look like repeating a simple affirmation, like “I am doing the best I can with the resources and skillsI have right now.” You can find more about cultivating self-compassion here.
When in a moment of crisis, it can be helpful to find healthy ways to distract your mind from what you cannot control. It can be difficult to find healthy distraction strategies when we are overwhelmed, so prepare a self-care plan ahead of time with options that you know work for you. Struggling to come up with healthy ways to distract yourself? This list may help.
Finally, you can use mindfulness strategies to navigate distressing moments. Mindfulness strategies help you bring your awareness into the present moment without judgement, and can help activate the part of your brain that goes offline during a crisis, called the prefrontal cortex. This part of our brain is responsible for complex decision-making, and can help us be less reactive in difficult situations. There are many ways to practice mindfulness; explore some quick and easy exercises here.
Just like any new skill, practice is key to effectively coping with a crisis. The more you practice healthy ways of coping in your daily life, the easier these skills will be to access during distressing times.
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