Coping Skills
This coping skill involves taking a slow breath in, and a slow breath out, to calm the body. Some common shapes people use include a box and triangle.
What is Deep Breathing?
Deep breathing can help lower your heart rate and calm your nervous system.
FACT
I arrive when something matters to you, your hands might shake, and your stomach feels like butterflies before a big event. What emotion am I?
What is anxiety or nervousness?
Believing that the worst possible outcome will happen, and thinking it's the only outcome.
What is catastrophizing?
Red and blue make up this color.
What is purple?
This coping skill uses your five sense to bring you back into the present moment. Some people use the 5-4-3-2-1 technique of this.
What is grounding?
Ignoring your feelings makes them go away faster.
FICTION
I make your cheeks warm, your face red, and I show up when you do something awkward or get caught. What emotion am I?
What is embarrassment?
Seeing things as either all good or all bad. It's either one extreme or the other, there are no gray areas.
What is Black-and-White or All-or-Nothing Thinking?
The third planet from the sun.
This coping strategy teaches you to pause before reacting, observe what’s happening, then choose a skillful response.
What is mindfulness?
Coping skills work only if they fix the problem instantly.
FICTION
You feel me when something unfair happens. I heat up fast and explode if not managed. What emotion am I?
What is anger?
Making a conclusion or assumption without knowing if there is evidence to support it.
What is jumping to conclusions?
This U.S. state is the largest by area.
What is Alaska?
This type of coping skill involves identifying a negative thought and replacing it with something more balanced or realistic.
What is cognitive reframing?
If a coping skill doesn’t work immediately, it means it’s not a good skill for you.
FICTION -- (Many skills take practice, repetition, or the right timing.)
I show up when someone else has something you wish you had. If left unchecked, I can turn into resentment. What emotion am I?
What is jealousy?
Believing that because you feel something, it must be true.
What is emotional reasoning?
The human body has this many bones in adulthood.
What is 206?
This advanced coping skill combines awareness, acceptance, and non-judgment to handle difficult emotions without avoiding them.
What is radical acceptance?
More than 1 billion people globally have a mental health condition, which equates to nearly one in seven people.
FACT
I appear when something unexpected happens — sometimes good, sometimes bad. I can make your eyes widen and your mouth open. What emotion am I?
What is surprise?
Taking a single negative event and assigning it to all current or future situations.
What is overgeneralization?
LICC was founded in this year.
What is 1953?