Turning to a professional for help when you feel that you are not coping with your emotions is a sensible next step and can make all the difference to how you feel moving forwards. You can talk to your healthcare team in the first instance but there are helplines if you would rather chat to someone anonymously. There are also text messaging services for anyone struggling with difficult feelings or going through a crisis. Below are four common types of talking therapies and practices that focus on shifting our habitual thinking patterns.

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – Negative thoughts can be a recurring theme for anyone either going through a significant challenge or suffering from other psychological conditions such as depression and anxiety. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is used widely to help with these negative feelings. CBT can be undertaken with a therapist or anonymously via a computer program.

  CBT looks at our automatic thoughts and challenges them. We often do not realise how many automatic negative thoughts we have which can make us feel a range of difficult emotions. Using therapeutic techniques like positive thought recording help us to identify and stop these automatic unhelpful thoughts and practice new and beneficial ways of thinking.³

  CBT is a very goal-oriented type of therapy and focuses mostly on the present day and things affecting your life now. You will usually be invited to participate in 6 to 8 one-to-one sessions with a trained counsellor, but the therapy can also happen as a group or online.⁴

• Mindfulness – A technique used to tackle a range of mood problems and conditions. It is particularly effective in supporting diabetes management and the mental turmoil that follows a diagnosis of a chronic physical illness.^5,6 It can address feelings of guilt, anger, anxiety, stress and facilitate self-acceptance to pave the way for a happier and unobstructed life.⁷

  Mindfulness and acceptance are cultivated through a variety of exercises which encourage you to bring your attention to the present moment without thinking deeply about it. A common exercise is awareness of breathing, where the task is to maintain awareness of the physical sensation of one's own breath, redirecting attention to the breath whenever attention or becomes caught up in thinking or emoting. Body scans, where you pay attention to how your body feels from head to toe (either whilst resting or moving) is another way of doing this.⁷

• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (MBCT) – An offshoot of CBT is Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) which combines elements of CBT such as understanding the thought patterns that do not serve us, and key elements of meditation including not indulging in emotional responses to negative thoughts. By so doing, it is possible to break away from the negative thought patterns associated with depression.⁴

  MBCT is typically delivered as a weekly group treatment program over the course of eight weeks and includes homework such as practicing breathing exercises and mindful meditation.⁸

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – A more recent tool in the therapeutic box is a practice called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or ACT. ACT makes use of a technique called cognitive defusion that focuses on accepting thoughts as just thoughts, not facts. For example, if you had the thought that you were unable to lead a life that you want, instead of believing the thought, you would simply observe it and say to yourself: "I'm having the thought that I’m not going to be able to lead a life that I want". By doing so, you are distancing or defusing yourself from the thought.

  By using cognitive defusion, you can create a space between yourself and your thoughts and feelings so that they have less power over you. The idea is not to try to stop the thoughts but to just observe and accept them. If you do not get involved in the thought, then your mood will remain intact and your thoughts will not become your reality. The acceptance element of ACT does not mean giving up or agreeing with suffering but hinges instead on a willingness to allow these experiences.^9,10