And now there is a cascade of reactions which will bring every painful memory that was buried deep down in our brains. Difficult times, idleness, or being stuck in an environment where the sin happened or with those people is indeed a stressful condition for survivors, but sometimes there is no escape, and that makes it even worse.
An unintended judgement, comments, or only a mere conversation can strike an emotional cascade in our minds, which eventually leads to being more dubious about our potential and our identity. That's abhorrent but what, people and their judgement or their effect on us. I'll leave you with that thought but, indeed it is obnoxious, but this blame game won't take you too long, you might win the argument, but at the cost of your mental peace.
The only way to survive those times is to talk. Talk about everything in your head with the trusted ones. The best way is to recognise your emotion, accept it and believe it won't last forever.
In the following section, I'll be discussing a few exercises that help to calm down, some techniques to release your anger, some mobile applications that might be helpful and finally the counsellors you can trust and who will listen to you no matter what!
Techniques to Self-Help
At the time of emotional distress or when you are passing through that phase, it becomes unmanageable how you respond to people or even how to react.
During that time, one of the best techniques is the Grounding technique.
It's effortless and effective. It's just 5,4,3,2,1, where:
We have to identify 5 things of the same colour.
Then we try to identify 4 sounds from our surroundings.
The third step is to touch 3 different objects and feel their textures.
Then try to identify 2 different smells.
And finally, take a 1 long deep breath and if distress continues, repeat until you feel some relief.
In case the emotional distress leads you to self-harm, and you are aware that you have a history of self-harming. Make sure to keep some points in mind.
Identify the reason for self-harm.
Always keep the first-aid box stocked up with Dettol and bandages.
Change your coordinates.
Draw anything with the red pen.
Hold the Ice cube.
Android/iOS Apps
Mental health institutes, Doctors, & psychologists have developed some mobile applications to help us in the healing process. Try them out.
Calm Harm – When you have the urge to self-harm, try this out. It helps you to engage and release that outburst. The principle behind this app is Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT).
Another useful mobile application is Mindfulness Coach, designed by the National Centre for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This application is well-guided with active training modules; it lets you keep track of your progress.
Counselling
Last but not least, iCALL.
iCALL was started as a mental health project in 2012 by the School of Human Ecology, Tata
Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) – Mumbai. It's an Online free counselling platform run by professionals and trained counsellors. They provide counselling through telephone, email and chat. So far, they are the best I have found.
So here I end and leave you with all these resources and techniques that are known to me. The resources and techniques are tried and validated.
Important Links
The information, applications, and resources that I have mentioned above can be found at the following links.
https://calmharm.co.uk/
Techniques -
http://icallhelpline.org/4-self-help-techniques-for-when-you-are-stressed/
iCALL - http://icallhelpline.org/
nULTA - Online Healthcare Chat App
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nultapatient
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nulta/id1157318409
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Love, Peace & Freedom to the World.
Vivek Sharma
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