De-escalating an Emotional Crisis

Recommended steps to manage an emotional crisis:

– Whatever feelings you have right now are normal, acknowledge them and let them pass through you.

– Meditate on making space for those feelings. Visualize your body as a mountain and your mind space as the sky. The emotional storm will come and go, you don’t need to act on it or make effort to avoid it. Stay present with your breath.

– Remind yourself of the things in your life that are true and constant. Make mental list of the support and resources you already have or you would like to seek. Remember your values and your strengthens.

– Turn off all channels of information and stimulus that contributes to your distress, including talking constantly about them, or feed into negativity.

– Avoid substances that destabilize your mental and emotional state.

– Know that you may not have control of what is going on in the external world, but you can choose to practice emotional regulation by de-escalating your distress and your response to the distressing event.

– Your best judgement, decision, and actions will be available to you when you are in a calmer state of mind.

– You are not alone. Connect with yourself, with love ones, with community, and with a spiritually uplifting source.

– You can do it!

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Contact Information


Wai Wong-Miller MA, LMHC

Seattle, Washington.
Phone: 206-790-4888 Fax: 206-582-0866