Emotional First Aid: Care for your psychological injuries

We often tend to prioritize different things by rejecting or not taking notice of other things. For example, most of us prioritize fast food over healthy food or having fun over studying, and even though that is bad for us because eating healthy food keeps us fit and studying results in a bright future, we still choose them as they favor us to our particular interests.
Likewise, we take notice of physical pain and apply first aid so that it doesn’t affect us in any way.

However, if we feel depressed or are having problems psychologically, we simply deny it, as we are afraid of various things such as being called a “retard”. But why do we have to care about what society will think? Why can’t we just take care of ourselves? Because if we ignore these physiological injuries like loneliness, anxiety, failure depression, and not follow emotional first aid then they will only get worse.

So, to take care of our physical and psychological injuries as equals, there is a way that could help us to watch over our psychological injuries just like our physical ones. For example, when we fall, we immediately a apply bandage over the wound to make sure that its pain doesn’t expand. Likewise, we should use emotional first aid to treat our physiological injuries.

What is emotional first aid?

Emotional First Aid is the idea that we take care of emotional injuries when they occur, so they do not become more damaging in the long run. Like when you do the aftercare for a wound, do the same for your emotional injuries like rejection, loneliness, failure, loss, or guilt.

How do you take care of yourself? How do you get better?

Here are some things which you could add in your emotional first aid kit

1. Awareness
   Identify why you have been injured and what kind of psychological pain are you experiencing. Try to find its symptoms and be aware of any changes in your mood like depression or loneliness.
   
2. Redirection
   When failure makes you focus on the negative, reframe the situation and think about what you can control, what you could do differently next time, and how you can plan for improved outcomes in the future. Find your control and ability to adapt instead of focusing on what you did wrong.
   
3. Distraction
   Replaying upsetting or negative experiences in your head can lead to much worse emotional health. So break the negative cycle by finding something to distract yourself with, like watching positive movies, reading novels, helping your mom in the kitchen, which will help your mind to get off these things and will put your concentration elsewhere.

4. Self-esteem
   Having low self-esteem at that point in time can result in you in a breakdown, which would only make things worse. To maintain your self-esteem by telling yourself that you are worth it, you can do and there is nothing that could stop you.
   
5. Find Meaning
   Loss can be a particularly challenging wound to overcome, but if you can find meaning, a purpose for your life, or a way in which this experience has grown you or has enhanced you as a person. It will be much easier for you to fight your injury and to move forward.
   
6. Acceptance
   Being able to accept wrongs done to you, and wrongs you have done is key to good emotional health. If you are feeling guilty over something you have done, find acceptance by truly apologizing. Focus on the impact your action had and not on why you did or what you did. And if you have been wronged, find acceptance by focusing on letting go. Express your broken feelings and pain, with that, also think about what you want your life to look like in your tomorrow and how you have grown from this shadow.
   
7. Reflection
   Learn from experience. Try each of these techniques to find out whether they are useful for your mind and body or not. If these are not working for you, take the next step and find someone you trust to talk to. Always keep in mind that your emotional health is just as important as your physical health.

With all that has been said, pay attention to your psychological health regularly, especially after a difficult, stressful, or emotionally painful situation. Make it a habit to use the healing tools of Emotional First Aid and it will help you gain a healthier and more positive outlook on your life.

Written by Sanjam and Yashwe