9 Mental-Health Experts on the Strategies They Use to Get Over Bad Moods
Psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists explain how they cope with emotional rough spots
If misery loves company, here’s a reminder that should be at least a little soothing next time you find yourself in a funk: Even psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists — the people trained to help you find the good in the bad, put things in perspective, and become more resilient to setbacks — have times when they’re just stuck in an emotional low point. No one, no matter how in tune with their emotions, is immune to a bad day.
Where these mental-health experts might have a leg up from the rest of us, though, is knowing how to cope; after all, they spend much of their professional lives advising patients and clients on how to do just that. For example, Amy Cirbus, a counselor based in New York, advises paying close attention to what your mind needs, and calibrating accordingly: “There are days that I come home and I need to numb,” she says, but “on other days, the drumming of my adrenaline calls for more action if I want to unwind and let go.”
Her advice speaks to a larger truth: There is no single universal coping mechanism that’s guaranteed to solve every bad day for every person, or even every bad day for just…
