When faced with an overwhelming experience, the automatic response is to either face it or run away from it. Most people employ experiential avoidance to escape from the effects of the distressing situation. Being psychologically flexible can allow you to manage, being mindful of the experience without creating negative effects.
Experiential avoidance happens when individuals are unwilling to accept a painful experience, and instead, they alter or avoid it to minimise the pain. Although it may bring temporary relief, it is considered a negative response behaviour because individuals escape from the distressing situation. Some experience avoidance responses include suppression, evasion, or other control tactics to eliminate distressful thoughts, feelings, or situations. Continuous experiential avoidance brings more harm than good because it has been associated with increased levels of negative affect, poorer social adjustment, and decreased well-being. It provides short-term benefits but brings detrimental effects in the long run.
Instead of avoiding an experience, it helps to be mindful of them and increase awareness of these painful experiences. Modifying a distressing situation or other symptoms through acceptance and mindfulness methods can decrease the impact of pain on individuals. One way of dealing with it is increasing the psychological flexibility process of individuals.
Psychological flexibility
Psychological flexibility is the willingness of individuals to accept and fully experience the present situation without judgment than trying to control, avoid, or alter them. Controlling an uncontrollable situation or avoiding facing it can be too taxing, bringing more negative consequences. However, accepting these painful situations without judgments helps individuals direct their energies to more important things, providing more clarity and improving the well-being of individuals. Furthermore, becoming psychologically flexible can lower symptoms of depression or pain-related anxiety as well as physical and psychological disability. Higher levels of psychological flexibility had positive effects on mental health. Psychological flexibility serves as a protective factor in individuals’ well-being.
Psychological flexibility includes processes such as acceptance of experience and value-based behaviour. Because individuals are more accepting of distressing situations, they are less likely to engage in experiential avoidance. Instead, they acknowledge and accept the distressing situation as inevitable and prefer to focus on their goals and values. Letting go of control over the distressful situation allows individuals to shift their attention to important goals in life.
Being mindful and accepting of their emotions help validate what they are going through. As they accept their emotional experience, they develop greater control over their situation, making it easier to engage in adaptive and effective coping.
In contrast, if psychological flexibility is a protective factor, its opposite, psychological inflexibility, becomes a risk factor. Psychologically inflexible people have difficulty managing their emotions and engage in unhealthy ways of coping. Furthermore, psychologically inflexible people become at greater risk of developing mental health issues.
However, one process that is similar to psychological flexibility that can combat the effect of painful situations is decentering.
Decentering
Decentering is the ability to observe distressing thoughts and feelings in a detached manner. These thoughts and feelings are considered temporary events and do not reflect the person. Instead, individuals take a step backward and use an observer’s point of view to gain a different perspective about the experiences. Feelings and thoughts are seen from a broader perspective and considered separate from the person. Decentering has a positive role in the daily functioning of people, particularly those experiencing chronic pain. Greater capacity to detach from painful experiences are more likely to suffer less and function better.
Increase psychological flexibility
Individuals avoid painful and overwhelming experiences to gain control over their situation. However, habitual use of experiential avoidance may lead to greater intensity of anger, depression, frustration, anxiety, or other adverse effects accompanying the painful experience, causing more detrimental consequences to the well-being of individuals. This may imply that individuals’ suffering does not solely come from the painful experience but also the effects of generalized patterns of experiential avoidance.
Instead of avoiding painful situations, being more flexible and accepting towards them can help improve their experiences and lessen the impact of distressing situations on their mental health. By willingly accepting these different psychological experiences without judgment and detaching themselves from their thoughts and feelings, it can significantly change their well-being, leading to improved functioning.
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