- Hey, Psych2Goers, welcome back. (sighs) Why did this happen? Whether you saw it coming or
not, the feeling is the same. You're shattered. You feel like your heart is
broken into multiple pieces. Life dishes out many
unforeseen heartbreaks. Though the experiences may be similar, every hurt is personal. Traumatic events from your
past can leave you wounded. Over time, they take shape
of an emotional wound itself. Like a physical wound, it's
always in your awareness. You're protective and sensitive to anything that might re-injure it. And the same sensitivity often makes you even more vulnerable. Here are seven signs
of an emotional wound. Let's all learn together, shall we? (soft music) Number one, you cry
easily over small things. Do you shed emotional tears along with the fictional
character you're reading? Is there such thing as
crying too often or too much? Some people cry while reading a sad book or watching videos of baby animals while others cry only at funerals. If you've ever had tears
well up in a meeting or wept out loud in a movie theater, you may have wondered if it's normal. It is found that women cry on
average 5.3 times per month and men cry an average
of 1.3 times per month. Tearfulness is commonly associated with depression and anxiety, This emotional state perpetuates when you've been emotionally
hurt in the past, consciously or subconsciously. As a result, even the
mere hint of anything that arouses emotions
can cause tears to flow. Number two, you lose interest in the things you used to enjoy. At some point in their life,
most people would lose interest in things that used to excite them. Emotional hurt, however,
takes this loss to its limits. It becomes impossible to draw enjoyment from things that once elicited excitement. Your emotional hurt makes even
pleasure seem like a task. Your world is drenched in gray, and you don't seem to
have the strength it takes to lift the paintbrush. Number three, you get annoyed
easily by people's behaviors. Irritability is the carbon
monoxide of emotional pollutants. No one likes confrontation, but you can run from it for only so long. Anger has its own role. Both direct and indirect
anger, or passive, is meant to communicate
something important. What you really want is
to connect and be heard. But when anger is involved, the result is often just the opposite. Aggression in any form
is the biggest hindrance to emotionally intelligent communication. People often think
passive-aggressive communication is somehow better or nicer. It's not. In fact, it
may actually be worse. If you're looking for a true
and meaningful connection and understanding with another person, you need a better strategy. Being compassionate with yourself and figuring out the source
can help bring yourself down when you're feeling on edge. Be compassionate with yourself. Number four, you feel
worthless and hopeless. How can you increase your sense of worth? Can you earn it through what you do? Happiness is not obtained
solely by your achievements. Self-worth based on
accomplishments is pseudo-esteem and not the real thing. Feeling worthless often
involves a sense of hopelessness and insignificance. Such feelings often arise
commonly due to abuse or trauma or difficult situations that pose a threat to a
person's sense of oneself. Pinpointing the cause behind
these distorted thoughts can help you to understand and address factors that
contribute to low self-esteem. Number five, you keep
replaying the bad memories in your head. Is your head filled
with one single thought or a string of thoughts
that just keep repeating, and repeating, and repeating themselves? The process of continuously
thinking about the same thought, which tends to be sad or
dark, is called rumination. Your history of emotional
or physical trauma makes you believe that by ruminating, you'll gain insight into your life or a problem you're facing. As when a ball is rolling downhill, it's easier to stop
the ruminating thoughts when they first start
rolling and have less speed than when they've
gathered speed over time. It helps to identify your trigger and find a distraction to
break your thought cycle. For example, calling a
friend or a family member, doing chores around the house, reading a book, or walking
around your neighborhood. This helps to challenge
the onslaught of thoughts. Number six, you feel too
much until you're numb. Am emotional wound can also
trigger what is called apathy. Emotional hurt causes
you an emotional overload to the point that you become numb. It's a form of self-defense
against future hurt. Apathy is a feeling, but
it's also an attitude. And sadly, the attitude
is one of indifference, unconcern, unresponsiveness,
detachment, and dispassion. Emotional hurt zaps you of so much energy that you feel listless, almost too paralyzed to act, and certainly without the will to do so. This is why apathetic
individuals are easily identified by their passivity. Your interest in confronting
life's challenges is seriously compromised. You just don't care anymore. To defeat this stagnancy within, you must be willing to commit to giving this apathy
the fight of its life, even though doing so
feels like it will take a lot more energy and effort
than you're capable of. And number seven, you
feel clueless and stuck. Ever had times when you
feel trapped or restless? Where the life you're
living doesn't seem anything like the life you wanted, as if on autopilot,
going through the motions but feeling unsatisfied? Your instincts are to shake it up, change your job, or go on that vacation. But that provides only a
temporary, not permanent, solution. Instead, the solution lies within. Topping up your ways of
thinking about events can actually help lead to new perspectives and diminish distress and anxiety. It's important to do away with your negative
perceptions about yourself that interfere with problem-solving. If you found this video helpful, be sure to hit the like button and share it with those out
there who need to hear this. Don't forget to subscribe to Psych2Go and hit the notification
bell for more new videos. And as always, thanks for watching.
