How to overcome the crisis?

Unprecedented high ratings of economic news, controversial comments in offices and frightening rumors in home kitchens… Today, the topic of the crisis (albeit to varying degrees) excites each of us, confusing uncertainty, inspiring anxiety for the future. How do you personally deal with this situation? And what advice do you have for your clients? We asked our experts to share their thoughts on this topic.

“Take another look at your lifestyle”

Svetlana Krivtsova, existential psychotherapist “My experiences today are typical for me in any difficult situation. At first – not to feel anything, not to see, not to hear, to pretend that everything is in order. It is enough for me to simply say: I do not feel a crisis, there is still enough money. Then – an exaggerated emotional reaction, then – impatience and a strong impulse to escape or in some cunning way to jump over the problem, to deceive it. I notice the same thing now with my clients: everyone remains himself. But the crisis is an occasion to take another look at your own life style, to meet once again with what is so familiar, but to do it without annoyance and fear, but in general, in a friendly way. With such an attitude towards yourself, it is much easier to feel free again.

“Remember, watch, listen and think”

Anna Varga, family therapist “I feel this crisis by the stress that my clients feel. I am very sorry for active people: they took off, and their wings were clipped. It does not directly affect me yet: neither I nor my relatives have loans or debts. I, like many, remember life in the Soviet Union, when it was common to limit one’s needs, when one did not cultivate an attitude towards clothes or food. But they read, watched, talked… I perfectly understand that there is no development without crises – I see this every day, working with many families. I think that in the current situation, those who will stop worrying and begin to analyze the current state of affairs and the experience of their own mistakes will win. After all, the crisis can be treated as a resource that will help us reconsider our life values ​​and build new priorities. Finally, remember the eternal values ​​that help us survive always and everywhere: dignity, honor, love. “What to do?” I answer: “Watch, listen and think.”

“Move forward by staying open to your feelings”

Andrey Rossokhin, psychoanalyst “Listening to the gradually growing feeling of anxiety, I remembered an old episode. I went alone along a difficult mountain route in Altai and a few days later I found that I was bitten by a taiga tick. Without vaccination against encephalitis, this could cause paralysis, which means inevitable death in the mountains. My temperature rose, delirium began. Trying to stop the panic, I realized that a miracle would not save me and that much depended only on me: I had to stop fighting my own fear, allow myself to experience it and just continue on the path I had chosen. Keep moving forward by being open to your feelings. This experience has helped me so far. … “I can’t do anything, my hands are falling, my business is collapsing,” an adult, strong and very successful person lying on the couch tiredly repeats. It is important for me not only to calm him down, but to help him use the crisis in order to rethink his life in a new way, to find a foothold in himself. “When did you feel like this before?” He recalls: the older brother, leaning over, twisted his arms, letting him go only when he, sobbing, begged for mercy. Once he complained to a friend of his father and remembered the answer for the rest of his life: “There is nothing humiliating in the fact that you are afraid and that you cry. But you have to fight and believe that you can make a difference.”

“Believe in yourself and your loved ones”

Nifont Dolgopolov, gestalt therapist “Recent events make me feel annoyed that many of my plans may not come true. But at the same time, I feel excitement, excitement, because the crisis situation is a great opportunity to finally change something in my life. The anxiety and fears that my clients talk about are connected not only with the crisis itself, but also with underlying problems that we try not to notice in ordinary (stable) life. And my task as a psychotherapist is to understand what relates to the underlying problems (with which we have to work), and what fears are quite realistic (for example, a person is afraid of not repaying a loan). And if he can influence the situation, change something in it, I suggest that he do it. I try to support my clients by sharing my own feelings with them. I tell them: “I believe that everything will be fine, I believe in my own strength, in my loved ones, that we will find internal resources to cope with this situation.”

Leave a Reply