Hello, it's the savvy psychologist. I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson and every week I'll help you

meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

No one walks through life with a perpetual peaceful easy feeling.

Some days you feel less like sweet emotion and more like everybody hurts at maximum volume.

And getting overwhelmed with emotion isn't pretty.

Think fist-shaped holes in the drywall, a blowout bar fight,

or throwing your soon-to-be excess stuff out a window,

preferably a blaze.

Or overwhelming emotion can also turn privately inward

resulting in cutting, drinking yourself into a stupor or a massive binge. In some ways

all the drama makes sense big emotions often feel scary but it's not the big

emotions themselves that are dangerous it's the way we choose to react to them

but decisions made in the heat of the moment are almost always regretted. We end up hurling insults we wish we could take back, scaring the people we love most,

and generally digging ourselves into ever deeper holes.

Worst case scenario, we end up hurting someone else or ourselves.

Now, while it's vital to work on long-term solutions, there are methods to pull the plug on overwhelming

emotion in the moment.

We all know someone or are someone who seemingly has an allergy to emotions.

Even a small exposure to negative emotion

leads to the psychological equivalent of anaphylaxis.

In those moments, you need a quick fix.

Therefore, by request from an anonymous listener,

...