Avoidance
Describe emotion avoidance
any strategies we might use to avoid feeling strong emotions or prevent our emotions from becoming more intense.
Watching tv is a form of what type of avoidance?
Cognitive
Name 1 reason why avoidance is bad
Avoidance doesn't REALLY work; It just temporarily decreases an emotion, but it actually can't make it go away
Behaviors are used to _________ ourselves from experiencing strong or unwanted emotions.
prevent
This type of Avoidance involves actions that we do not even realize we are doing
Subtle Behavioral Avoidance
Playing with my hair
Subtle Behavioral
Name another reason why emotional avoidance is bad?
When we habitually avoid an emotion, we never learn that emotion would be tolerable and we never learn that it will pass without our efforts to avoid or escape!
While emotional avoidance most often occurs with _________ emotions, it can also occur for ________ emotions.
negative; positive
This type of Avoidance involves behaviors that distract/stop us from thinking about our emotions/situation
Cognitive Avoidance
Picking at nails/skin
Subtle Behavioral
Give us another reason!
When we give ourselves the wrong messages like "I can't handle that emotion or "that situation is dangerous to me" This backfires and causes more fear and distress!
Why does avoidance only work in the short term, not the long term?
While avoidance typcially "works" in the short term to help us feel better (or at least a little bit less bad), in the long term, chronic avoidance can cause many problems.
This type of Avoidance involves carrying/holding an item during times of distress that makes us feel better (despite evidence that these items do not make us feel better)
Safety Signals
Wearing a big sweatshirt to program
Safety Signal
Another reason !!!!
We start to avoid more and more situations and find the emotion more and more difficult to deal with.
example: being scared to drive and avoiding highways at first, and then avoiding city driving and then just not driving at all!)
????
More free points!
Difference between avoidance and emotion-driven behaviors (EDB's)
Avoidance is used to prevent feeling a strong emotion while EDB's are a response to the emotion you have already experienced
Listening to music
Cognitive
ONE LAST REASON
Some of the things we do when we are desperate to avoid emotions can really hurt us
example: eating disorder symptoms, substance abuse, cutting or suicidal gestures, breaking up relationships, not being able to meet the demands of life, etc.)
Our _____ become "overlearned" powerful habits that are very hard to break.
EDBs