Mindfulness Skills for Anxiety Treatment In Maryland—Part 2, Naming
Can you recognize and name the emotions you are experiencing? Learn essential tools for anxiety treatment in Maryland with mindfulness skills.
In the first part of this blog series on mindfulness-based therapy skills for anxiety reduction, we went over bringing in a sense of awareness about the breath and using the breath to help the nervous system dial down a bit and come back into better regulation. If you missed that post, do go and check it out when you can because it’s a foundational step for this next part. Plus, these skills are useful for everyone, not just folks looking for anxiety therapy. They end up in heavy rotation for many things that bring folks in for therapy in Maryland.
Getting The Brain Back Online
Remember in the last blog post when we were talking about how the sympathetic nervous system sets a whole bunch of stuff in motion in our brains and bodies when we perceive we are under threat of some kind? Well, the bad news is that to direct the energy to the places that the brain deems essential for survival (that fight/flight/freeze response), resources are routed away from other systems. Digestion takes a back seat, for starters. But so does the prefrontal cortex part of the brain, which is not great news for us because this is the part of the brain where our best, most sophisticated thinking occurs. Bummer. This is why it’s so hard to think clearly in a panic attack.
Using the relaxation breathing techniques described in the previous blog post in this series can help to unwind this process and then allow our prefrontal cortex to come fully back online so we can think clearly and make wise decisions. We can help this process along with some skills in recognizing and naming our emotions and experiences.
Name it to tame it
When we start spiraling with negative thoughts and feelings, or get totally overwhelmed, it can be incredibly helpful to pause and take a moment to see if we can label how we are feeling. Just the act of doing that helps our brains start to regulate a bit because we’ve activated, with blood and oxygen, the language parts of the brain (the cortex), which is exactly the part of the brain that we want activated to help balance out that other part of the brain that is ringing all the alarm bells (the amygdala). Once the amygdala gets a grip, it can dial down all those fight/flight/freeze responses that make it really hard to think clearly.
Naming our emotion also helps us to get clarity about what it is that we are experiencing so we can make wise choices about how to proceed. Sometimes we can be spinning out with this general sense of “No, this is not ok and I am freaking out!!!!”, without recognizing what it is that’s really going on. The best path forward may look different if we recognize that we are dealing with fear as opposed to recognizing that we are dealing with loneliness. It gets tricky to know what to do if we just think we’re dealing with “AAAAARRRRGGHHH!!!”.
Teach Your Children (and yourself) well
For all you parents or caregivers of kiddos out there, this is an invaluable tool to model and teach to children. Being able to identify and articulate your emotions is immensely helpful for emotional self-regulation, communication and relationships. Kids pick up what’s in their environment so they learn a great deal about how to do this if you model it consistently for them. Do some of your cognitive and emotional processing aloud. “I’m feeling very grumpy right now. Last night I didn’t sleep very well and I can tell that I’m getting hungry. Before I do anything else, I think I should have a glass of water and a snack.” OR “Oh, I can tell that I’m feeling a little nervous about what I have to do at work tomorrow. My tummy doesn’t feel great and my jaw feels very tight. Maybe a quick walk or a mini dance party would help me. Would you like to join me?” Yes, this is extra work on top of what you are already dealing with, but it can pay off in big ways. It helps you work on solutions for yourself in the present and builds an essential skill for your kid that will make your life easier as they learn it.
But I don’t know what I’m feeling
Many of us were never really taught exactly how to be able to figure this skill out and we might be starting from scratch now. That’s ok! This is not a graded test. You can use all the resources you need to help you with this, and there are plenty of choices out there. This also applies to anyone who just needs an extra boost to figure it out when they are so overwhelmed that they just can’t get a foothold on putting language to the experience.
Learning how to identify your emotions clearly is helpful for everyone.
There are wonderful visual aids that can help you put your finger on exactly what it is that you are feeling. There are basic models like this sheet that shows drawings of faces, paired with emotion words (this stuff can be great for kids and adults alike). For something a little different, look at all these options for free pdf versions of emotional wheels. I also really love this emotion sensation wheel from Lindsay Braman because it also adds in awareness of physical sensations that can be great clues to figuring out what emotions may be present. You can begin to see these sensations as neon signs/warning bells/escape room clues that tell you to PAY ATTENTION because significant emotions are brewing.
For those of you that want something a little more high-tech and interactive, I’m a big fan of the 100% free app How We Feel. The app will give you some prompts to help guide you to be able to identify what it is that you are feeling, and can keep track of your responses so that you get actual data about the trends of your emotions. Greater insight about the patterns of your emotions (what you are feeling and/or what you are NOT feeling) can help guide ideas about what wise actions to take in order to help get you where you want to go. It’s also ok if you think you need some extra help from an anxiety therapist to get better at this.
Back to awareness
Just like the part about the breathing exercises, these tools are not very useful if you don’t remember to use them. It can be hard to remember this in the moment when we are overwhelmed and not thinking clearly. So, I have two suggestions for helping yourself in those tough times.
Checking in with your emotions is like doing an internal weather report.
First, make a list of what to do when you get swamped with distress. Start with these first two tools we’ve been exploring: take a number of deep, slow belly breaths. Then, try to name the emotion(s) that you are feeling. You can start adding to this list now with other tools that you know are helpful, and you can stay tuned for more tools and tips to come. Get it all down in one place—on your phone, on an index card, in a notebook you carry everywhere—someplace that will be easy to access when you need it. If you are physically writing it down, make multiple copies and keep them in different spots. That way, when your brain is overloaded and not thinking clearly, you don’t have to remember five different things. You just need to remember one thing: get the list.
My second suggestion is to build in emotional check-in times for yourself regularly throughout the day, so this isn’t something that you are just trying to remember to use when you are swamped with big feelings, but something that you are doing regularly and habitually. Building new habits is often easier when you pair it with habits you already have. I’ll bet there are things that you do everyday; make coffee or tea, brush your teeth, plug your phone in, etc. What if you took just a moment, when you were doing those things to just check in with yourself and see what you are feeling. Can you name your emotion? There’s no need to fix anything during this time. It’s just like a mini internal weather report about what’s happening inside you right now. Anxious. Irritable. Excited. Exhausted. Sad. Just name it. Working on these things consistently, and staying engaged in this work between sessions, will help you make progress towards meaningful change.
Get support from A MARYLAND ANXIETY THERAPIST
Looking for a partner to help you reduce your anxiety? I offer specialized anxiety therapy appointments in-person, located in College Park, MD. Online anxiety therapy appointments are available anywhere in Maryland. Contact me to schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation to get started towards taming your anxiety today.
Other services I offer include hypnotherapy, mindfulness-based therapy, life coaching, and support for LGBTQIA+ clients. Additional information is available on my home page.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, AN ANXIETY THERAPIST:
Beth Charbonneau, LCSW-C, is a Maryland therapist, specializing in anxiety therapy and treatment. With over 20 years of experience, she brings a holistic approach to calming both the mind and the body, and helping her clients feel empowered to find more joy in their lives. Learn more about her counseling practice here.
