Emotional flooding: what it is, how it affects us and how to cope with it.

Emotional flooding is a very common psychological and physiological phenomenon.

Everyone has been immersed in a situation where emotions and feelings have flowed out of control. Whether it is anger in an argument, crying because someone has told us something we don't like or frustration because things don't go our way, the truth is that we can experience a real emotional flood.

We drown in our own feelings. The flame of rationality is extinguished when we are flooded by a stormy emotional tidal wave. Reason and emotion are usually balanced, but when this situation is lost we can feel very bad and make unwise decisions.

Emotional flooding is a situation that everyone has felt on more than one occasion, something very human but also very dysfunctional if not managed properly. if not managed properly. Next we will discover why and we will also see some strategies to calm down when it occurs.

What is emotional flooding?

The emotional flood has a name that makes a good show of what it represents. It is precisely that, a flood, a tide of sensations, of mostly negative emotions that take control over ourselves and prevent us from thinking clearly..... It is as if a huge wave of intense emotions swept over us without being able to escape, like the swimmer who is trapped by the currents and gales in his beach dip.

Our body manifests the tension in a physical way. The muscles tense, the internal temperature rises, the stomach churns and many other organic sensations are felt. But, of course, the nature of this tension is not exclusively physical. Our mind, flooded by emotions, isolates itself from what is happening around us. Negative thoughts become very vivid, their mental volume increases. They deafen us with a noise coming from our mind.

Emotional floods are very common psycho-emotional experiences in interactions with any person.. They are especially frequent in the middle of a couple's relationship, but they can also occur with friends and, above all, with family, a source of emotional support but, at the same time, of conflicts and misunderstandings. Each person is trapped by his or her own thoughts and emotions such as indignation, frustration or anger. Our feelings become so intense that it is impossible to hear calmly and serenely what others have to say to us.

Emotional flooding is just another example of how our uncontrolled emotions can completely block our rationality. The problem with this very human phenomenon is that, if we do not put the brakes on the moment of giving in and try to regain our composure, we may decide things or say things that, coldly, we will end up regretting, we may decide things or say things that, in the cold, we will end up regretting.. Emotional flooding affects our decision making.

Causes: Why do we feel this way?

At this point, one may wonder if emotional flooding is something pathological. The truth is that it is a completely human and normal phenomenon that can be experienced by even the calmest and most rational people in the world.. The reason for this is simple: as much as we may believe it, there are no rational people and emotional people, but we are all a combination of both components.

In fact, there are many situations in which we make rational use of emotions, in addition to the inverse relationship, in the sense that reason is not entirely independent of emotionality. The point is that everything has a balance, a point where reason and emotion come together so that we make the most logical decisions but without disregarding what our Heart tells us.

In addition to this, it is worth saying that emotional flooding can be related to our sense of survival.. It has been hypothesized that it is an involuntary reflex that is activated when the brain detects some stimulus perceived as threatening, whether rational or irrational. Our emotions have an adaptive functionality, they are a product of evolution, and serve us to face the demands of the environment.

When you experience something that is understood as an injustice, lie or harm, this can be the trigger for the whole wave of negative emotions that give shape to the emotional flood. Emotions such as fear, disappointment, sadness, anxiety, anger and so on will not only manifest themselves in the form of psychological discomfort for the one who has them, but they will also initiate a whole set of physiological changes..

The problem with emotional flooding is that this reason-emotion balance is lost, causing all kinds of emotional states to come to the surface for a moment, blinding our judgment and preventing us from thinking. It is something that every human being who has been in an emotionally stressful situation will have experienced, so it is not pathological in itself. However, it does require some effort to prevent the emotional escalation from going further and harming our mental health.

Scientific research indicates that in order to control situations of emotional flooding it is key to manage the level of activation of two areas that are very involved during the occurrence of this phenomenon: the amygdala and prefrontal activity..

The amygdala is a brain structure that, apart from other functions, plays an important role in emotionality, while the prefrontal area is related to the famous executive functions, such as concentration, decision making, working memory, planning... When the amygdala is overactive, emotions are intensified and our rational and reflective capacity is reduced.

Therefore, taking into account all this, the ideal would be to to reduce the activity of the amygdala and increase that of the prefrontal cortex in order to manage and avoid these emotional floods..

What can we do to control it?

As we have been able to see, the emotional flood would be that process of emotional overflow in which all apex of rationality is silenced by the escalating intensity of our emotions. There are several strategies we can resort to in order to control the emotional flood.

1. Take a time-out

Continuing with the metaphor of the sea, emotional flooding can be understood as a wave that traps us, that threatens to drown us with the water around our necks.. The best thing to do in these cases is to try to swim to the shore, catch our breath and calm down, away from those threatening waves at the beginning.

To prevent our emotions from overflowing or, in case it has already happened, to try to reduce them, one of the best things we can do is to take a break away from the emotionally stressful situation. Each person requires his or her own time, but as a suggestion, about 20 minutes is enough to recover the compost.enough to regain composure and calm.

2. Breathe deeply

A classic in any recommendation to calm our emotions is that of deep breathing.. It is not a miracle cure, but it helps prevent our tension from escalating and can calm us down in a few minutes.

Deep breathing can reduce our tension load, take away our stress and recover our concentration and rationality.

3. Dialoguing with oneself

Trying to reflect is complicated when we are drowning in an emotional flood. Therefore, it is best to do it once we are better, calmer, enjoying physical and mental calm. The balance between our emotions and our reason allows us to reflect on our desires, experiences and feelings in a lucid and holistic way. in a lucid and holistic way.

Dialoguing with ourselves is a good way to discover what it is that has caused us to be so emotionally tense and what we could do to avoid it. This dialogue we can do it with a Socratic conversation by asking ourselves questions such as: Where does this frustration come from?

Where is this frustration coming from, am I being realistic about what is causing it, am I overreacting, am I exaggerating things, are my thoughts realistic, am I being realistic?

Are my thoughts realistic? What justifies them? Does the way I react make me feel better or worse?

What could I do to change this situation?

Most of us have many distorted thoughts about reality, which are fueled by our negative emotions.which are fed by our negative emotions. It is necessary to detect and question them, to rationalize them to the point of removing the emotional filter that distorts or exaggerates them.

4. Re-evaluating stressful situations

By re-evaluating stressful situations we can induce a cognitive change that aims to understand what has happened to us so that, the next time it happens, we can exercise greater emotional control.. To achieve this, it is essential to know ourselves better and to know what are the triggers of our emotional flood.