Psychology of a Crisis

Learn how panic attacks arise with the body's adrenaline and fight or flight response, and apply practical strategies—breathing exercises, naming surrounding objects, counting, and touch-based muscle control—to manage symptoms.

Explore acute reaction to stress after traumatic events, its panic-like symptoms, possible progression to post-traumatic stress disorder, and learn calm communication and relaxation techniques to restore control.

Explore fear as a basic emotion and its fight-or-flight physiology, and learn practical strategies—square breathing, acceptance of anxiety, mindful observation, and CBT techniques—to manage fear and panic.

Identify and apply defense mechanisms such as denial, repression, displacement, regression, and rationalization, which unconsciously protect the mind from anxiety and guide responses during crises.

Explore how anxiety stems from the unknown future, triggers the fight or flight response, and presents symptoms like racing heartbeat and sleep problems, with practical coping steps.

Explore delayed life syndrome and its link to external and internal locus of control, plus coping steps: awareness, area-specific plans, basic needs, and daily routines toward a brighter future.

Explore survivor syndrome and survivor's guilt, detailing common psychological and physical symptoms, and learn practical coping steps—grieving, positive action, reframing external factors, self-forgiveness, and seeking support.

Explore aggression, hatred, and anger as stress responses shaped by the amygdala and fight or flight, and learn to identify causes, practice assertive expression, and channel anger into motivation.

Explore how power and control affect well-being, confront powerlessness, learn coping steps—accept, hope, rest—and regain control through flexible, creative adjustment in Gestalt psychology.

Explore insomnia linked to post-traumatic stress disorder after a traumatic event, and apply sleep hygiene, relaxation techniques, and journaling to ease stress and protect working memory.

Explore how stress links to eating disorders, including stress eating and fasting, and learn mindful strategies like distinguishing emotional hunger, hydrating, and planning meals.

Explore sadness as a transient emotion, its role in signaling unmet needs during crises like war or disasters, and coping techniques: recognize feelings, seek support, express creatively, and action plans.

Identify your psychological resources—religion, family, art, creativity, friends, and hobbies—and allocate at least two hours daily to coping practices like sleep, nutrition, exercise, humor, and connection.

Be present and listen without judgment, offering concrete help rather than empty words. Ask specifically what they need and how you can help now, and validate their emotions.

Explore how emotional freezing and apathy emerge after trauma, revealing energy-saving coping, signs like reduced empathy and motivation, and practical steps to restore resources, set small goals, and seek help.

Explore enthusiasm as a coping mechanism for anxiety, contrasting with apathy, and learn to set priorities, create action plans, and manage rest under internal vs external control.

Explore the traumatic consequences of severe stress, symptoms, and the professional therapies—somatic experiencing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and eye movements—to heal trauma, PTSD, anxiety, and depression.

Explore post-traumatic stress disorder, its intrusive memories, avoidance, and arousal that may start within a month or years after trauma. Learn treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy.

Explore anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias, and separation anxiety. Identify physical and mental symptoms and coping strategies for management.

Explore alexithymia and its impact on recognizing and expressing emotions, and learn the three zones of awareness—inner, outer, and middle—and a guided body awareness exercise to enhance emotional processing.

Understand how learned helplessness arises after repeated stress, with symptoms in speech and behavior. Apply ABC method and SMART goal setting via positive and cognitive behavioral therapy to foster change.

Explore explanatory styles that shape how you attribute events, distinguishing internal vs external, stable vs temporary, and global vs specific, and how these beliefs relate to learned helplessness.

Explore the stages of grief after loss and practical coping strategies, including keeping routines, seeking support, and applying the four tasks: accept reality, experience pain, adjust, reinvest.

Explore depression as a persistent mood disorder with symptoms like sadness, loss of interest, fatigue, sleep and appetite changes, and thoughts of death, and review evidence-based therapies.

Move from theory to practice with guided breathing, art therapy, cognitive behavioral and body-oriented techniques for stress relief, replication, and resource recovery.

Practice a guided breathing exercise to relieve stress and anxiety by inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly for at least ten cycles, guided by an electronic scoreboard.

Guide a second breathing exercise to relieve stress and anxiety by closing your eyes, breathing deeply with counted inhales and exhales, holding briefly, and performing five to eight cycles.

Practice the third breathing exercise to relieve stress and anxiety by coordinating chest and stomach breathing, alternating turns and then integrating both, with equal inhalation and exhalation and short pauses.

Practice the fourth breathing exercise for relaxation by exhaling with resistance through lips, teeth, or a tube, or singing, and chant a mantra to vibrate the chest and head.

Practice alternating nostril breathing by closing the right nostril, inhaling through the left, closing the left, exhaling through the right, then switching to inhale right and exhale left.

Engage in a guided breathing exercise for resource recovery, using color imagery to inhale strength, energy, and calmness and exhale fear and despair.

Transition from visualization to body oriented therapy with a sequence to locate and release blocks and relax, via a 30-second liberation scan and head turns, shoulders, hips, and flex movements.

practice a two-hand loop body-oriented therapy exercise to release negative energy, align posture, breathe slowly, and ground sensations from head to hands, then slowly revive movement.

Practice body-oriented therapy exercise 3 to cultivate self-regulation and internal connection. Move through divergence and convergence of hands, tense meditation, slot, and body vibrations to relax.

Engage in the Buddha Smile body-oriented exercise to relax facial muscles, imagine happiness and warmth, and let your lips form a perceptible smile that evokes missing joy throughout your body.

Practice body-oriented therapy with step forward, step back to help shy individuals express anger and move from rage to calmness through shouts, jaw clenching, and muscle awareness.

Practice body-oriented exercises to locate where emotions reside in the body—aggression and other negative feelings—then decide to express, accept, hide, or share them, including sadness, powerlessness, and joy.

Practice body-oriented therapy by imagining a long, high-pitched scream to express anger, with deep breaths and expanded chest in a space; repeat three to four times and observe feelings rising.

Practice visualization to address anxiety, PTSD, trauma, and powerlessness by guiding you to a personal safe place. Explore details through sight, touch, sound, and smell to feel calm and happy.

Practice a second visualization to evoke specific pleasant emotions through breathing and memory. Name the state as 'state of happiness dog' and use Chateau to move between past and present.

Practice visualization to transform powerlessness into control by focusing on actionable steps, managing anxiety, and cultivating acceptance and hope for the future.

Begin a self-massage sequence by massaging the little fingers of both hands and pressing the joints to relax. Notice changes in breathing rhythm, warmth, and thought patterns within minutes.

Practice self-massage exercise 2 to relieve emotional stress and anxiety and replenish energy. Sit, connect index finger paths with thumbs, hold for 20 minutes, feel the finger pulse.

Perform a self-massage of the right palm toward the opposite shoulder, kneading the neck. Repeat on the other side; feel a chill in your hands and a light head.

Guide yourself through self-massage exercise 4, tracing a figure-eight with the right hand from nose level, switch hands after about a minute, then interlock fingers and look at the nail.

Perform a guided ear self-massage, using thumb and forefinger to press and glide from the top toward the ear lobes, then repeat on the other ear for two minutes.

Explore self-awareness and coping through an art therapy exercise: draw from emotion, reflect on images, and note associations and small actions to feel better.

Practice an art therapy exercise that uses a stormy voyage and a lighthouse beacon as a guide, drawing and coloring the lighthouse to represent safety.

Participate in an art therapy exercise by writing a fairy tale about a princess who finds her true self with a magic wand, overcoming obstacles toward purpose and self-realization.

Engage in the refueling art therapy exercise by shaping plasticine bowls and filling stations to visualize internal resources like sincerity, confidence, health, and love; reflect on their meaning and balance.

Create a river of life in semolina through art therapy to explore your inner world, reflect on feelings, and note associations and small actions to reach a flow state.

Explore art therapy exercise 6 to visualize aggression as a tangible shape, color, size, and purpose, drawing its image to reveal manifestations arising from the psyche.

Learn CBT to identify and change automatic negative thoughts, complete ten exercises including tracking worst moments and emotional depth, and reframe interpretations with evidence for and against.

Engage in a second cognitive behavioral therapy exercise using the first table from the previous exercise to compare past beliefs with present feelings, attitude changes, and new details.

This cognitive-behavioral therapy exercise guides you through a four-part fear experiment to confront fears and phobias, identify problems, establish coping strategies, and develop solutions.

Explore practical cognitive-behavioral exercises to manage anxiety by listing worries, rating likelihood, noting supportive beliefs, and planning coping actions.

Identify activities you want to return to and recognize blocks like tiredness and powerlessness. Plan strategies to reduce avoidance and depression through a cognitive behavioral exercise.

Engage in cognitive behavioral self-esteem exercises: identify negative self-beliefs, reframe them into positive statements, and gather evidence to support self-acceptance despite setbacks.

Explore how the body and psyche respond to crisis and emergency situations, and learn practical techniques to cope, recognize reactions, and express emotions in a healthy way.