Coping Methods
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Coping methods are used by people with mental health issues that can help distract them from the issue that is being caused. A coping method that many people with mental health issues use is called Grounding. Grounding is a way of bringing the person back to reality and getting them to focus on what’s happening around them. This is often used when people start to spiral inside their own mind. Some people find it more effective to get a friend or a trusted person to go through the stages of grounding to help them.
Grounding
Here are the five steps to grounding…
Name 5 things that you can see. Look around the room and out of the window.
Name 4 things that you can feel. Try to keep them positive.
Name 3 things that you can hear. Try to be specific.
Name 2 things that you can smell. Hopefully they are calming smells.
Name 1 thing that you can taste. It often helps to have a piece of chocolate or something to nibble on whilst doing this.
Stimming
Stimming is another coping method where you release excess energy from anxiety attacks in a positive way.
Here are a few ways where you can do stimming
Use a fidget spinner – focusing on the fidget spinner could help slow down racing thoughts and bring you back to the moment.
Do something productive that you enjoy – this could be dancing, cooking, going for a walk or spend a few hours re-organising your space. Moving in general will help you release some excess energy from anxiety.
Exercise
As cliché as it sounds exercise gives you a sense of achievement, less anger and frustration and improves your sleep.
These things could help improve your mental health.
Talking to someone you trust
Talking to close friends or loved ones or trusted family members could help you start a conversation about how you feel and it may help you with exploring your emotions and understanding why you feel a certain way.
Setting small and achievable goals for yourself everyday
This coping strategy may seem strange to begin with but it is definitely and effective one. Setting yourself small goals everyday could help you feel productive and give a sense of achievement and that may help you by giving positive thoughts and emotions. The goals could be as simple as finishing something that you started a while back or even prepping your meal for the next day.
The important thing to remember after going through these coping methods is that, somethings might not work best for you but they will work for other people. So we hope that you stay positive and remember that you should try everything and find what works best for yourself before getting frustrated and thinking that there is no help out there for you. Ask yourself “is this working for me?” “why is it or why isn’t it?”. There is plenty of resources out there for self help and there will be something for you.