Dr. Marius Welgemoed says one of the biggest gifts you can give yourself in the face of mounting frustration is to learn how your emotional “triggering process” plays out.
“If you catch emotions early enough,” he says, “you need much less effort to resolve it. But when this has snowballed and it’s compounded and you’re at that point of absolute rage, it’s harder and harder and harder to inhibit [those emotions].”
The comments came as part of the Sechelt Hospital Foundation’s weekly MedTalks Live series. Every Tuesday, Welgemoed joins forces with Dr. Rahul Gupta and Dr. Lisa Kitt to dole out advice about COVID-19-related emotions. On April 28, the three doctors virtually put their heads together to troubleshoot “Anger and Frustration.”
From getting curious about the source of other people’s anger, to trying to understand the source of our own, the doctors offered many concrete steps to take charge of our emotions, and others’.
Kitt says managing emotions is hard work, but it is possible to learn how, even if we haven’t had these skills modelled in our lives. Kitt suggests the “name it to tame it” approach.
She says the process of taking a moment and trying to name emotions when you start to elevate can help put the metaphorical emergency brake on, get the brain thinking logically again, and stop the runaway train towards rage.
Gupta says emotions are elevated right now because there is so much pressure on us to get stuff done and to keep ourselves safe, which is why he is advocating that we make even a little bit of time for play.
“Every single decision we make right now, “ says Gupta, “ seems like it’s fraught with life or death possibilities... Finding pockets of joy can be an antidote to some of the more challenging emotions.”
Watch this April 28 talk, and all other past talks at www.sechelthospitalfoundation.org/upcoming-medtalks. MedTalks Live stream online every Tuesday at 2 p.m. On May 5 the scheduled topic was COVID Shame and Compassion and on May 12 the subject is Loneliness and Connection.
For an ongoing list of mental health resources and to send in your questions and suggestions for future talks: www.sechelt
hospitalfoundation.org/live
– Angelina Theilmann, Sechelt Hospital Foundation
