How to help a person with EMOTIONAL LOCKOUT

The emotional block is an altered physical and mental state, a consequence of an experience that causes very unpleasant emotions. In order not to feel these emotions, the person unconsciously paralyzes her physical, emotional and mental functioning.

In this Psychology-Online article we are going to deal with this topic, delving into its definition, causes and symptoms and proposing tools to get out of this situation or help the affected person to get over it. If you want to know how to unblock yourself emotionally or how to help a person with emotional block, continue reading.

Index

1. What is an emotional block
2. Symptoms of an emotional block
3. How to overcome an emotional block
4. How to help a person with emotional blockage

Emotional block is a Defense mechanism that we use people unconsciously to defend ourselves from a situation that, emotionally, we cannot cope. At a certain point, a person is immersed in the middle of a situation that generates a high level of discomfort and anxiety and is completely paralyzed with hardly being able to react.

The Causes The most common that can lead a person to suffer from this emotional block are:

• Continued experience of stress, which leads him to finally become dull without being able to react as a result of not having been able to manage his needs properly.
• Loss of a loved one, especially in cases where the person dies unexpectedly. This causes the emotional blockage in the affected person for not being able to accept what happened.
• Dismiss: this situation can generate in people a feeling of frustration, helplessness and insecurity that, lived with a high degree of anguish, can cause an emotional blockage.
• Separation or breakup: the non-acceptance of this fact leads, on many occasions, to people to be emotionally blocked. In this article we explain how to leave a relationship without hurting and without suffering.
• Experience of a traumatic situation (accident, attack, illness, etc.): emotionally overwhelms the person who cannot manage the situation and remains paralyzed.
• Some psychological disorders, especially those related to the repression of emotions, and people with deficiencies in their emotional management: they tend to have repeated experiences of emotional blockage.

In reality, emotional block is an adaptive response that denies the situation experienced in the face of the inability of the moment to face the pain that means for the person to open up to live the experience.

Out of fear, frustration, anger, insecurity, loss of bond, etc. Faced with any of the situations mentioned in the previous section, the person feels overwhelmed and is totally paralyzed. The emotional block is manifested through the following symptoms:

• Difficulty expressing feelings or thoughts when in a situation of great disorientation Y disconnection emotional inner.
• Coordination problem and motor precision, being clumsy due to the inability to control his body.
• Anxiety or alexithymia (absence of any emotional manifestation) which allows you to stay away from the painful experience. In this article we explain more about what is and what are the symptoms of alexithymia.
• Continued rumination around the situation that occurred or, on the contrary, absolute negation this.
• Lack of motivation, by not seeing beyond the unpleasant experience they have experienced.
• Personal neglect: poor diet, hygiene and basic care.
• Addictions: Sometimes people start to consuming toxic substances as a way to cope.
• General exhaustion, as a consequence of that lack of personal care.

A person suffers an emotional block due to difficulties in their emotional regulation. Specifically, due to one of these two deficits:

1. Regulation deficit in activationIn other words, the person is unable to activate the appropriate emotional self-regulation mechanisms when experiencing certain emotions.
2. Regulation deficit due to the use of dysfunctional strategies such as the use of any Defense mechanism, which only hides or transforms emotions (denial, sublimation, projection, dissociation, idealization, etc.).

At the same time, emotional blocks are based on a series of negative and sometimes irrational beliefs (in around the event that occurred or as a generalized mechanism, in cases with great affective deficiencies) that feed the experience from negative emotions, which keep the emotional block active.

Therefore, to overcome an emotional block, it is essential to address these two aspects: emotional self-regulation and mental processing. It is about the person:

• Be aware of how she is feeling and what emotions she is feeling.
• Accept and allow yourself experience emotions.
• Inquire, acknowledge and express verbally the thoughts that inhabit it.
• Slice and contrast the objectivity of these thoughts.
• Look for your virtues and potentialities.
• Propose alternative solutions positive based on your personal abilities.
• Be raised objectives in the short and medium term and start taking steps.
• Verify how, with the steps you are taking, the possibility of a new reality totally removed from the one in which she had been stuck.
• Ask for help to stand firm on your way out into the world.

How to help someone to unblock themselves emotionally? To eliminate emotional blocks we can follow these guidelines:

• When someone in our environment suffers an emotional block, the most important thing is keep us close and available.
• It is important not insist excessively in favoring the improvement of our loved one, respecting their times, but staying attentive and not neglecting ourselves. Emotional blockage can lead people to extreme self-neglect that negatively affects their physical, psychological and emotional state.
• However, it is not an easy task since in many cases the blockage is so strong that the person is trapped, even dragging the closest people with them. In these cases, it is essential request professional help intervene to prevent the situation from turning into something worse.

Finally, in this article you will find how to treat a person who does not express their feelings.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to How to help a person with emotional blockage, we recommend that you enter our category of Emotions.

• Hervás, G. (2011). Psychopathology of emotional regulation: the role of emotional deficits in clinical disorders. Journal of Behavioral Psychology. Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 347-372.