Healing the Empath: Techniques for Managing Emotional Overwhelm in Therapy for Empaths
What happens when you experience emotional overwhelm? That moment where your natural and helpful attunement to others’ emotions feels like it’s taking on a bit too much. This can lead to compassion fatigue and a need to shut down. It might bring up a part of you that feels panicked, urgently trying to find ways to “keep it all together.” Sometimes, emotional overwhelm can bring up a self-critical mindset, where you begin to berate yourself for not feeling in control. This is where Therapy for Empaths in Los Angeles, CA comes in.
How Therapy for Empaths Can Help Manage Emotional Overwhelm
For those who experience emotional overwhelm, therapy for empaths can help regulate it. It can become a space where you can learn to be in a relationship with your sensitivities to the moods and emotional experiences of others. With clients who find themselves burdened by emotional overwhelm, managing it can look like the following:
Mapping Your Experience
Emotional overwhelm can catch us off guard; creating a sense of urgency to gain a sense of control. Once the moment passes you might feel too exhausted to reflect on what just happened and eventually find yourself experiencing something similar down the line. For clients who find themselves in this loop, I encourage them to create a map of what their emotional overwhelm looks like so they have a better sense of what activates it and where it takes them. This builds the capacity to become more familiar with emotional overwhelm so that over time it feels less surprising and sudden. Some questions I ask clients to reflect on when mapping their experience of emotional overwhelm include:
What happens in my body when I’m in this state?
What situations, places, people, and sounds activate this state?
How does this state influence my relationships and ability to connect with others?
What do I begin to think and say in this state?
Regulating Your Nervous System
Once a map is created, we can begin to identify what resources and practices can be supportive in managing emotional overwhelm and regulating your nervous system. This might look like engaging in breathwork. It can also look like identifying when you need more time to yourself, sharing with others that you need space and are feeling overstimulated, or mindfulness practices. What brings a sense of regulation is unique to each person. Working with an HSP therapist can help you find what works best for you. To help clients identify this, I often ask them: what helps bring you a sense of safety, connection, and calm?
Getting Clear About What Needs Your Attention
Being attuned to others' moods and needs can be a gift. It can also feel exhausting when you feel like you’ve taken on too much of what others are feeling. It might feel natural to want to help others experience relief because you truly believe that once others experience relief, you can too. If you’ve found yourself in this place, consider reflecting on what needs your attention in these moments.
If you help others experience relief, will you in turn feel less overwhelmed or will you feel exhausted and burnt out?
At the thought of tending to your needs and emotions, is there a part of yourself that tells you it can wait?
If you wait, will you feel more overwhelmed and less regulated?
Navigating Emotional Overwhelm through Therapy for Empaths
Mapping your experience, regulating your nervous system, and getting clear about what needs your attention when you experience emotional overwhelm is helpful in identifying what you can realistically expect of yourself. As well as how you can show up in your relationships with others. This might bring a multitude of thoughts and feelings. These could include guilt, anxiety, self-criticism, or sadness, all of which are helpful to process those thoughts and feelings in therapy.
Learn how to Manage Emotional Overwhelm through Therapy for Empaths in Los Angeles, CA Today!
Ready to take control of your emotional well-being? Explore techniques for managing emotional overwhelm in Therapy for Empaths in Los Angeles, CA. Discover how therapy can empower you to understand and navigate your empathic gifts more effectively. By working with a therapist at Therapy on Fig who specializes in supporting empaths, you can learn practical strategies. These strategies can help you protect your energy, set boundaries, and cultivate self-care practices that honor your unique sensitivity. Take the first step towards healing and emotional balance by following the steps below:
Speak with a compassionate therapist for empaths.
Move past emotional overwhelm with confidence!
Other Therapy Services Offered at Therapy on Fig in Los Angeles, Highland Park, and Throughout California
At Therapy on Fig, we offer therapy services that fit the unique needs of empaths and highly sensitive people (HSPs). In addition to Therapy for Empaths in Los Angeles, CA, we also provide Trauma Therapy and Grief and Loss Therapy. We also address related issues such as anxiety, stress management, and relationship issues. Our goal is to empower you to embrace your sensitivities and gifts as strengths and start on a path to self-discovery and healing. Reach out today to begin your journey of understanding and navigating your emotional overwhelm.
