{"id":5272,"date":"2021-08-06T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T03:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scc.sg\/e\/?p=5272"},"modified":"2021-07-14T16:17:24","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T08:17:24","slug":"coping-healthily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scc.sg\/e\/coping-healthily\/","title":{"rendered":"Coping Healthily with the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frustration, grief, disappointment, devastation — we have all experienced such negative emotions at some point since the pandemic started. Coping with our negative emotions can prove to be very difficult at times. But is it really better for us if we pretend that we are not feeling these emotions and avoid them? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

A noteworthy study indicated that people who suppress negative emotions tend to develop a more negative outlook on life. Psychologist Judith Grob showed two groups of people disgusting images and asked one group to hide their emotions and another to react naturally. She found that the group that hid their emotions reported feeling less disgusted by the pictures than did those who had been allowed to react naturally. However, those who suppressed their negative emotions suffered some side effects; their memory was impaired and they seemed to have adopted a negative outlook — when Judith Grob had them fill in the missing letter to the word “gr_ss”, for example, they were more likely than others to offer “gross” rather than “grass”. This study shows us the importance of healthy coping methods when dealing with negative emotions as it may unconsciously affect the way we look and feel about life.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>

Coping healthily<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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How have you been coping during this COVID-19 pandemic?<\/b><\/h3>\n

The pandemic has affected us all profoundly; we have had to deal with tumultuous and often disruptive changes to our personal and work lives since the pandemic started. These changes may have been debilitating and as we continue to ride the waves of changes brought on by the pandemic, and sometimes it can feel like a struggle to stay afloat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In our efforts to cope, some of us might escape the stressful situation by procrastinating on our tasks, or numb our emotions through various addictions, but if we look deep within ourselves, we might find that these forms of coping do not really help us feel better in the long run. We understand — it\u2019s not always easy to choose positive coping, especially when our negative emotions stir up negative impulses within us. However, the way we cope with negative situations can affect the way we continue to feel and think. As such, we hope that this article will shed some light on some practical things you can try out, to help yourself start feeling\u00a0 better!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Healthy emotion management and coping techniques fall under two main categories: emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

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What is emotion-focused coping?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Emotion-focused coping is especially helpful when we are trying to cope with situations<\/span> that we cannot control nor change. For example, anxiety about the unending pandemic situation, not being able to visit your loved ones overseas due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, or the words and actions of another person.<\/span><\/p>\n

Emotion-focused coping is about changing our perspective so that we can deal with the situation more constructively, making us feel better about our situation, even when nothing about it has changed. A large part of emotion-focused coping is letting go of our need to control or change the situation, and redirecting our attention, instead, on how we can make the best out of this current unchangeable situation.\u00a0 In doing so, we become less reactive to those stressors, and over time, we achieve better mental and physical well-being.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

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\u00a04 ways to engage in emotion-focused coping during this season<\/b><\/h3>\n

1. Meditation\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meditating helps us to acknowledge and accept our thoughts and emotions as they come without judging them to be good or bad. It also allows us to focus on the present reality – the negative situation and emotions – and be able to better address the emotions. Meditation can be done anytime. An easy way to practice meditation would be to sit still and focus on your breathing. Click <\/span>here<\/a> <\/span>to find out more on how you can start your meditation journey.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

Coping by thought journalling<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

2. Thought Journaling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thoughts influence our response and experience of a situation. Writing them down helps us to identify and clarify helpful and unhelpful thoughts and emotions, so that we can begin to work through them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves:<\/span><\/p>\n