If someone suffers physical pain, that’s never easy. However, you can alleviate it in various ways. You might get surgery if that’s an option. You always have over-the-counter pain meds. You may also have physical therapy options.
If you suffer emotionally, though, that’s sometimes not as easy to get past. You can take legal action if someone causes you emotional distress, and maybe that will help you feel better. You may also have some other options, and you will need to consider the best path forward very carefully if you want to feel happy again.
In this article, we will talk about what the court system and medical professionals call “emotional distress”.
What does emotional distress mean?
First, let’s define the term emotional distress. It’s kind of a catchall term. In the most general sense, it means a feeling of distress that’s emotional in nature rather than physical.
If someone feels emotional distress, you might not see it physically. It’s not like a bruise on someone’s face or a cut on their body that tells you they sustained an injury. It’s often much more subtle.
If you’re a particularly intuitive person, then you might detect emotional distress in another individual. However, some people can conceal their emotional distress very well. If they have a reason for doing so, then they may take pains to bury it.
They may do that because they don’t want others around them to see them in pain. They may feel that to show emotional distress indicates weakness.
If someone conceals their emotional distress, maybe that’s because they’re in an emotionally abusive relationship. They might fear that if they show others what’s happening through their words or actions, then the abuser might lash out at them more.
Maybe they’re also concealing their emotional distress because of attempted stoicism. They may feel that because of their gender or position, they can’t show weakness.
How it can impact you
Let’s say that you’re in a situation where you’re dealing with ongoing emotional distress. You may also have acute emotional distress.
In the former scenario, you have something in your life that’s distressing you emotionally on a regular basis. In the latter one, you’re emotionally distressed, but only at this particular moment.
Neither situation does anything good for you. If you have ongoing emotional distress, that probably means there’s something in your life that’s causing you emotional pain, but you don’t know what to do about it. Maybe you see a way to relieve yourself or to rid yourself of the source of your distress, but you don’t want to do it for some reason.
For instance, maybe you’re in a marriage with someone who abuses you emotionally. They don’t leave physical marks on you, but they berate you and make you feel worthless.
These kinds of situations happen all too often. Coworkers, friends, and family members may not necessarily know what’s going on, though.
If you’re experiencing acute emotional distress, maybe that’s because a beloved pet just died. You’re finding it painful, but you expect that you will get past that pain eventually.
Ongoing emotional distress usually harms you more than the acute variety. That’s because, if you have acute emotional distress, you will likely feel that you can get past it once a little time passes.
You’re in pain at the moment, but you will probably accept that it’s a natural part of life. You can expect to feel better eventually.
If you’re experiencing ongoing emotional distress, though, that’s a much more hopeless feeling. You may think that there’s no relief coming.
If you’re in this situation, life itself may seem burdensome. You might drag yourself through your days feeling listless.
You may have little appetite. You might sleep more than normal or not enough. You may struggle to bathe yourself or keep your living quarters clean.
In that way, having ongoing emotional distress mimics depression symptoms. If you can’t conceal what’s happening very well, then people may notice.
Often, though, people can prove remarkably self-centred. If you don’t seek treatment or engage in self-care, then no one may come to rescue you.
What you might do to get past it
If you have acute emotional distress, then you may get past it with little or no treatment. After a few months pass, you may still have some pain when you think about your distress’s cause, but you can start to look at the situation with a glass-half-full mentality.
If you have ongoing emotional distress, that usually presents a more difficult challenge. If you’re emotionally distressed all the time, you probably feel miserable.
You will need to take action. If your partner or spouse causes you emotional distress, you must get away from them. Go stay with a family member or friend.
If you don’t have anyone in your life who you can trust, then go to a shelter. You can often find facilities that will help you.
If you can, go see a therapist. Talk to them about what’s happening in your life and how it makes you feel. Maybe you have emotional distress because of something that happened years before. If you never processed it properly, then perhaps you still need to do that before you can move on.
You might require medication as well. You can get a prescription from a qualified mental health professional for something that can stabilise your mood.
You need to understand and accept that getting treatment doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means the opposite. You recognise that you’re struggling, and you’re doing the harder but necessary thing by taking action.
Emotional distress must occur in virtually every life. It’s a low feeling that counteracts the dizzying highs that we sometimes get to experience.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy, though. If you need help to get past these feelings, seek it out.
Adam Mulligan, a psychology graduate from the University of Hertfordshire, has a keen interest in the fields of mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.
This article was written by Adam Mulligan from www.psychreg.org
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