Depending on their situations and triggers, emotional meltdowns are unique to different individuals. Various situations ranging from hunger, irritation, short temper, vulnerability to stress, and more can trigger this condition. This can also result from significant life transitions, attending to multiple life responsibilities, and unaddressed relationship issues.
If you or someone you know are prone to emotional meltdowns, it’s essential to learn about your triggers and the appropriate ways you can cope with them. Understanding the cause of your breakdowns will also make it easier for you to find the right provider of mental health services in Toronto should the need arise. This will help you cope so your breakdowns won’t hinder you from your everyday activities and achieving your life goals.
This article focuses on the definition of an emotional meltdown, what you can do to prevent it, and when you should seek professional help. Read on to learn more.
What Is Emotional Meltdown?
An emotional meltdown isn’t necessarily a medical diagnosis. Experts say the term describes a condition when someone is overcome with certain emotions when they hit a breaking point. For others, it may look like crying uncontrollably, and others may see it as snapping at others or lashing out angrily. There are also others with meltdowns that involve panicking or running away from a stressful situation.
An emotional meltdown is normal. It may involve sudden bursting into tears or lashing out with anger because you feel that you’ve lost control and are overwhelmed with the unpredictable pressures in your life. This is to say that there’s nothing wrong with you when you have an emotional meltdown.
However, meltdowns can indicate you’re dealing with a challenging time, and some of your personal and emotional needs are unmet. In this case, it can affect your mental health, especially when you’re not open to preventing or at least managing it or talking to a professional about it.
How to Prevent Emotional Meltdown?
Fortunately, you can recover from a meltdown. You can learn to manage your triggers, especially the life stressors that often threaten to push you over the edge so that future breakdowns are less likely. Here are ways you can prevent an emotional meltdown.
Get regular sleep.
Sleeping is an essential recommendation from experts to keep active and mentally sharp. Even though life may drag you down with seemingly endless responsibilities at work and home, try to sleep at least 8 hours and no fewer than 6. If you’re used to sleeping less than 6 hours, it’s time to develop a sleeping schedule with a targeted bedtime and wake-up time.
Prepare for bedtime at least 30 minutes before you go to sleep. Stick to a bedtime routine that includes brushing your teeth, changing into your pyjamas, and turning off all electronic devices. The last part is vital, as scrolling through your social media feeds can take a huge chunk of your time that you should allot to sleeping.
Adopt stress-reducing routines.
You have all the freedom to choose and create a relaxing routine. You can start a journal. This is especially useful when you’re overwhelmed with multiple feelings. Writing down the details of your anger for someone or something will alleviate the feeling of almost reaching your breaking point.
Your stress-reduction plan may also involve taking the time to do healthy and relaxing things. It can be exercise, laughing, going on a shopping spree or museum visit, fishing, meditating, etc. Having and sticking to this routine will help you cope with everyday stressors as they come up rather than letting them pile up. Also, it will lessen the chances of getting overwhelmed by stress.
Try to understand the reason behind your emotional meltdown.
Finding and understanding the reason behind your overwhelming emotions can be helpful. This will allow you to navigate your feelings better. There’s no point in ignoring your triggers. It will just build up and may consume you in the end.
A basic understanding of your stressors and triggers will help you identify unpleasant feelings and their causes and consequences.
Allow yourself to feel sad.
As in the previous section, ignoring your feelings will not make them disappear. Remember that no 1 should be strong all the time. There’s nothing wrong with crying or yelling, even for seemingly insignificant things. Crying will help you relieve stress in the long run. That said, allow yourself to feel sad from time to time. It’s a human, common emotion, and you can’t run away from it all the time.
Recharge by getting into fun activities that you love.
Do you miss going to a coffee shop? How about walking your dog to the park? Even if your life may appear bleak and you have so many unpleasant emotions buried, getting into fun activities you particularly love and enjoy can be helpful. Sometimes, laughter can be a helpful way to lower your stress. It can stimulate circulation, release feel-good endorphins, and help your muscles relax.
So, get up, dress up, get out, and have a good laugh with your pet or friends, or watch a movie yourself. Do what you love to do so you won’t get consumed by your emotions.
When to Seek Help
If none of the tips above have helped and you’re frequently bombarded by worry, sadness, intense stress, changes in eating and sleeping habits, wanting to withdraw from friends and family, and feeling overwhelmed, then it may be the right time to seek professional help. You can start, for example, by choosing from a list of established and reputable therapists in Windsor. Professionals will also help you identify and understand what is causing or contributing to these feelings of mental distress. A psychologist, psychiatrist, clinical social worker or licensed marriage and family therapist are the mental health professionals you can talk to if you feel your symptoms are overwhelming, unmanageable or impacting your relationships, work or school. Most importantly, besides the stress-reduction plans, you can incorporate into your daily routine, professional advice can broaden your understanding. You will then be able to come up with another coping strategy for what’s going on.