>> Today we will be talking about the benefits of psychological or emotional distress.
Hi, my name is Alvina Acquaye and I'm a Psychosocial Behavioral Specialist here
in the Neuro-Oncology Branch, and what I do in the NOB is work within the Outcome Section
under the guidance of Dr. Terri Armstrong, where my interest
and focus surround the whole individual in regards to one's care through having studies
that incorporate interventions that help with distress, leading the CARES group focusing
on health and wellness topics, being a listening ear to patients dealing
with uncomfortable emotions, and overall managing different aspects of outcome studies.
My focus on today's topic centers around wanting
to provide a different perspective in dealing with distress.
With my background in counseling, my goal is always trying to bring new tools
that patients can utilize in their everyday life to push through challenges,
accept where they're at, and control what they can while prioritizing how they take care
of themselves at different stages of their disease.
Today we will focus on defining distress and affect or emotional labeling,
then touch on the importance of labeling and understanding the overall benefits
to manage certain signs or symptoms, and then we will end with some tips and an exercise
that you can use to manage overwhelming situations or even moments
that bring some joy to your life.
Before diving into the background, let's talk a little bit
about psychological distress before it arises.
It's feeling a personal threat or loss of control, experiencing changes
in your emotional status and inability to cope with a current situation,
and these are experiences that can lead to feeling distress throughout one's cancer journey
and it can have a harmful effect if nothing is done to manage it over time.
But if managed, it can be part of one's personal growth that one carries with them
to make necessary adjustments as challenges arise.
Distress experience in one's care is not always acknowledged or well managed as you deal
with unexpected or known factors, and there's also uncertainty about not knowing
if you can communicate distress when you're experiencing it, feeling like the focus needs
to be on treatment and other aspects of your care.
Additionally, you can feel a loss of control throughout this experience
and that's why it may be important to learn helpful ways to regulate your emotions
that can help with reducing the intensity instead of making the goal to get rid
of the emotion completely since you can't control that.
Before I share a few signs and symptoms to pay attention to,
to understand the importance of labeling, let's define it.
To label your emotion means to name it in the moment by saying
out loud what emotion you're experiencing to allow yourself a brief moment
to take a step back before reacting.
The first sign to be mindful of is if you continue to feel overwhelmed through the course
of your illness and you're not communicating how you feel.
Labeling could be a good start to just get things out.
Additionally, if you're feeling stuck experiencing the same emotions
and not having effective ways of coping to reduce how intense certain emotions are,
and also if you're finding you're having a hard time accepting how you feel
or you aren't sure what emotions you're experiencing,
then starting to label your emotions may be a great step to take
to also increase your vocabulary on different emotions that exist instead of being stuck
on autopilot expressing the same ones.
The first tip to implement to start labeling is
to limit using certain generic words to describe how you feel.
So for example, using "okay," "great," or "fine"
and start replacing those words with how you truly feel.
Plutchik, a psychologist, created the Wheel of Emotions that can be seen here on the right
and this is a nice tool to use, and the way to understand this is,
is that we have eight primary emotions, anger, disgust, anticipation, joy, trust, fear,
surprise, and sadness, and within those, they can vary in intensity.
So anytime you are feeling one of the primary emotions, start to dig a little deeper
and choose which emotion within the color scheme of your primary emotion coincides
with how intense the emotion feels at the moment.
As you can see from the picture, the more intense emotions can be found
as you get closer to the inner part of the circle.
For example, if you're feeling anger, a less intense emotion is annoyance,
and rage is more intense within the color scheme.
Mixed emotions can also arise, which are shown on the outer part of the chart,
and they are formed from combining the two primary emotions closest to each other.
This is only a small list of emotions that you can experience, but let this be a start
to building up on your vocabulary and communicating your true feelings.
The overall benefits to labeling, start with being able to distance yourself
from your emotions so that you create a plan of action.
It's a way to take a step back from your emotions so you don't get consumed
and feel stuck so that you can take control and choose how you want to react.
Some examples include deciding to get up and walk away from a situation to cool off,
or reminding yourself to practice deep breathing to bring your body back
down to a relaxing state, or choosing to pause while communicating to someone that you want
to revisit a conversation later once you feel you can articulate what you need
to without letting your emotions get in the way.
Lastly, labeling promotes acceptance in that you're taking in how you're feeling.
You're not judging it as a bad experience.
It's just observing how you feel and saying it to give you a chance to limit reacting
like you usually do and acting on impulse.
Even though this may be a challenge at first, labeling can provide great benefits to you
and your emotions once you consistently implement it.
Another tip is making it a routine to check in with yourself during different situations
that certain emotions may arise in.
So you learn to improve how you manage your emotions and you get
into the habit of labeling your emotion.
"Checking in" can mean something you remind yourself to do throughout the day
to make sure you're not pushing any emotions down, also, before or after your appointments,
or even after discussions with family or friends,
just so you can check your emotional temperature
and make sure you're understanding how you're feeling instead of dismissing it.
To check in with yourself, a few questions to ask yourself.
How am I feeling right now?
How intense is this feeling?
And what can I do about how I'm feeling?
Create daily reminders to do this for yourself so you are aware
of how you're doing at all times.
This exercise of naming it to tame it was created by mindful psychiatrist Dan Siegel
and a great metaphor to think about when using this.
When you put your hand to your face and you aren't able to see anything,
and with your emotions, you sometimes get stuck, and so naming your emotions,
your hand starts to move a bit further from your face and that allows you
to see things in a different way.
Now that your face isn't covered up, you decide how you approach events that arise
because you're not getting consumed and stuck with your emotions.
This exercise is something to practice when needed, but let's say an event occurs
and from there you notice physical symptoms.
Your body stiffens or clenches, then you may think,
I can't believe this is happening right now, and so before getting consumed in the moment,
once you recognize your body is triggered, then focus on thinking.
My body is telling me I'm angry right now, and slowly breathe in.
Then recognize the intensity of your emotions.
And going back to the Wheel of Emotions, a less intense emotion is, I'm having thoughts
that I'm annoyed right now, then exhale out.
Then moving into stating how you feel and repeat it three times.
I feel anger, anger, anger.
Then slowly breathe in, then exhale out, and notice how your body may slow down.
You can also state your intense emotions.
I feel annoyed, annoyed, annoyed, then fully breathe in again, then slowly exhale out.
This is an exercise that you can practice any time, and just remember the bold words.
Think by focusing on what your body is telling you.
Recognize the intensity of your emotions.
Feel by stating the emotion, and then connect to your body, focusing on how to calm it down
and that could just be sitting still and breathing.
Thank you for tuning in to this topic of emotional labeling.
I hope the tips and techniques shared are helpful exercises
to help taking a step back from your emotions.
>> Learn more coping strategies at cancer.gov/nci-connect.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health,
National Cancer Institute, cancer.gov, 1-800-4-CANCER, produced November 2021.