Psychology
fromPsychology Today
2 hours agoWhy Avoiding Your Emotions Makes Them Stronger
Avoiding thoughts and emotions often intensifies them, while small shifts in response can help manage emotions effectively.
The turtle technique is often introduced to children to help them manage strong emotions, guiding them to pause, breathe, and step back before reacting. It sounds simple, yet it carries depth when practiced with intention.
There's a difference between trying to reduce your overall stress and looking to specifically control levels of cortisol, however. As Devi Shastri reports for the Associated Press, a number of medical experts have argued that, although there are certain parts of the body that people should be concerned about, cortisol is not one of them. As with many things involving medicine and the human body, medical professionals have advocated for being able to get an expert's opinion.
Emotional exhaustion is that feeling you get in the lead-up. That sense of dread in the morning... All the things you used to do absolutely fine and in your stride suddenly feel like you can't cope with them. A lot of people talk about this inability to concentrate, which impacts the ability to make even small decisions, like not being able to think of what to wear.
Even when our own lives are relatively stable, constant exposure to war, political unrest, climate crises, and humanitarian suffering activates the brain's threat system. The nervous system is not designed to distinguish between danger that is physically nearby and danger that is emotionally vivid or repeatedly witnessed. Over time, this creates chronic vigilance. When people observe patterns of harm, exclusion, or dehumanization playing out publicly, the body registers risk.