How to Control a Mental Breakdown

Mental breakdowns can be messy and even dangerous to us. The good news is that you can learn to channel that same energy into something beautiful. Read on to learn how to control a mental breakdown.

Last night, I had just about the worst mental breakdown in my life. It started with tears and ended in intense rage. So much so, that I woke up this morning with broken capillaries on my face.

Initially, I did my best to control my emotions. I practiced cognitive restructuring and re-assured myself of my value in the world. I tried to calm myself by playing calming YouTube videos. I felt like it was working. However, a small trigger upset me and I lost control of my emotions and started screaming like the world was ending.

I always talk about how I’m on a journey to self-growth. This journey has helped me to overcome a lot of my emotional weaknesses like being negative, sad, suicidal and having anger management issues. I try by my best to keep positive. However, sometimes I feel that my negativity is programmed deep into me since childhood, and I’m still wondering whether I actually enjoy suffering in some twisted way.

Today I thought I’d share some of my tried and tested methods on how to control a mental breakdown.

5 Ways to Control a Mental Breakdown

Below listed are 5 of my techniques to help you control a mental breakdown:

1 | Cognitive Restructuring

Instead of saying, “Be positive”, I now tell myself to practice cognitive restructuring. Cognitive restructuring is a way to combat cognitive distortions. A lot of people listen to their cognitive distortions rather than their logic. Cognitive distortions are negative and highly irrational thoughts that aggravate and lead to suffering like depression and anxiety.

 Sometimes we don’t even know that we are thinking distorted thoughts. It’s just our way of life. Examples of cognitive distortions include:

• Catastrophizing/Magnifying

This is one of my biggest cognitive distortions. My mind begins to spin out the most outrageous possible things that can happen to me. Some of them don’t even make sense, but I end up believing them. Challenge yourself to counter these exaggerated negative thoughts with exaggerated positive thoughts for a change.

• Personalization

Here, you start thinking that anything and everything is a direct result of your actions or your presence. They take everything personally. You might have this cognitive distortion and yet you didn’t know that it was bad or wrong. Challenge yourself to think beyond yourself.

2 | Translate that energy into something else

A healthy way to cope with powerful emotions is to transfer them to another activity and burn them out. Bottling up feelings is the perfect recipe for an explosive mental breakdown. Practice activities where you have to create and give out energy into the world. Examples can include; working out, dancing, writing, painting, creating art, journaling, scrap booking, organizing your room/house, cooking, cleaning, coloring books, and many others. Try not to stay in one place and move around using that energy.

3 | Talk to someone about it

One of the best ways to beat a mental breakdown waiting to happen is to talk to someone about it. Call up a friend and talk about it. Don’t feel that you are being a burden to them. A lot of people just want to help. Actually, you don’t even have to talk about what’s going on with you. You can just talk about other, different topics. These days a text message is as effective as a call. Also, remember that if you feel that you may harm yourself, talk to a professional mental health worker. Here is a list of helplines you can use if you don’t feel mentally healthy.

4 | Meditate

As much as meditation isn’t for everyone, you should try to learn the right way to meditate before giving up. Practice meditation by choosing a quiet place to breathe deep, empty your mind and monitor thoughts. You can also achieve a meditative state by doing yoga. follow guided meditation videos on YouTube to give you a walkthrough of meditation.

5 | Learn to maintain your mental and emotional health

People do their best to keep their physical health up and great. In this same way, you need to learn to maintain your emotional health. Do activities that boost your mental health. Try not to sit around doing nothing, being bored and idle. This is something that actually deteriorates your mental health. Start adding mental health boosting activities to your routine. One such activity is journaling every day. Do things with the intention to maintain your mental and emotional health

Mental Breakdown 101

Sometimes mental breakdowns are inevitable. In fact, getting a cry in once in a while is pretty healthy. Try not to bottle up emotions, and find healthy ways to process your emotions. A great way to do that is by journaling. you can hand write using a journal, or you can type out your feelings on your computer. Google Docs is a great place to store your journaling and access anywhere. I hope you benefit out of this post on how to control a mental breakdown. If you’re a walking mental breakdown waiting to happen—don’t wait. Channel that energy into something useful and productive. Express your emotions healthily.