#terve

  trying that “coping statement” stuff for handling...

Please share!

okay it’s ur chronically ill big sister coming through w the coping statements!!!!!  use these when the symptoms (pain, fatigue, nausea, etc) are really overwhelming.

but first, some background!

there’s something called “catastrophizing.”  it’s totally natural & normal & most people’s instinctive response to serious physical suffering.  so don’t beat yourself up if you do it automatically!  however, while it’s natural, it’s also the best way to dramatically reduce your pain tolerance & make everything seem 100000x worse.

some examples of catastrophizing statements:

- i can’t handle this

- this is unbearable

- this is the worst i’ve ever felt

(and ofc, my brain’s personal favorite)

- i want to die (my brain’s a total drama queen)

this will not only make you feel emotionally worse; they make the physical symptoms worse too (remember, pain happens in the brain!!!)

so first, you’ve gotta identify the catastrophizing statements.   this seems obvious, but these thoughts are often so ingrained & automatic that we don’t even notice them happening. some experience w mindfulness meditation helps here, bc you get a lot better at identifying your thoughts as they come (i’ll extol the benefits of mindfulness in another post)  anyway, you identify those thoughts & then!  you replace them w coping statements!  repeat these over & over & over to yourself, preferably paired w some deep breathing & a quiet, relaxing environments.  these coping statements need to be realistic.  “i feel absolutely fine” is not a good one, for instance.  ideally, your coping statement is one you’ve come up w in your own words that works for you, but here are a  few to get you started

- i can handle this

- i’ve gotten through this before & i can get through it again

- this won’t last forever

- no matter how bad it gets, i can get through it

- i am strong enough to get through this

etc etc.  are they a little cheesy? yeah.  but they’ve done experiments & repeating these phrases legit increases your pain tolerance.

(also, if you have any witchy inclinations, you can think of them as tiny spells!!!)

some disclaimers: 1- this is not an easy habit to start & takes some practice.  2 - this won’t eliminate your symptoms, just make them a bit more manageable 3 - having catastrophizing thoughts doesn’t make you weak/a bad person/a bad patient/etc.  they are totally normal!!!! 4 - like nearly everything, this is not guaranteed to work for everyone 100% of the time, so it’s okay if it doesn’t work for you. 5 - i repeat - this is NOT easy & it’s okay to struggle w it 6 - i’m not saying that the power of positive thinking will cure you cuz like..... it won’t.  but thinking affirming coping statements might make you feel a little less like death is imminent.

I’m so sorry this seems like a huge cop out but I’m hugely busy at the moment and all my spoons are going on uni and settling in a new city and everything so I really don’t have the energy to write a proper answer probably until I break in December and I don’t want to leave it that long so instead im gonna link you to some other posts where ive recieved similar asks.

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