Tips to deal with irritability

[fred2018]

Hi I would love to hear how different people deal with irritability either medication induced, like when you start a new medication and it worsens your mood or just irritability caused by depression/anxiety symptoms on their own or a combination which can be fun aswell hah. I use music and other distractions but would love to hear from others. Cheers

[Soberlicious96]

Hi Fred2018,

Great question there! When I get irritable, there are a couple of things that I do to relive it, and not necessarily in the order they are written;

I ask, (or tell) myself "Is it a 'first world' problem? Is it something that I am privileged to have, for which I have forgotten to be grateful for? Such as having a flat tyre on my bicycle the other week. I walked the rest of the way home from work ..... but at least I was able to walk on my two good legs, with my two good arms to push the bike, to perfectly good home where I can put my bike away in my perfectly good garage until I get the tyre repaired, which I can do because I have good people to help me, and the money to do it with.

Or, sometimes if I'm irritated because of another person, place or thing, I might also turn to music ..... usually of the 'turn it up loud' variety!!!

I also usually find journaling ..... or writing things out here on BB ..... to be quite helpful too. Putting things down on paper/in a Word document, can help a lot. It seems to stop, or at least interrupt, that merry-go-round in my head. Writing things out is REALLY helpful for me. Probably one of the best tools there is for me.

Anyway, hope your Easter has been relatively free from irritations. Take care. xo

[quirkywords]

fred, what an ointeresting question.

I am someone who used to depending on my mood became very irritable over often minor things.

If I could listen to myself I would remove myself from what was irritating me before I said something I would regret.

Also a preventative thing is to smile when something starts to irritates me.

Quirky

[PamelaR]

Hi Fred

Yes, very good question indeed. Irritability comes with my anxiety. When it pokes it's head up, I generally say to myself:

ummm, are you being reasonable? Are you irritable? Yes!! Why, what is it about this particular situation that's irritating. Is it me, or is it my mother talking. Generally it's my mother talking in my head. This irritability is easy to get out of.

The example I'll use is - hubby eating an apple. He often makes the biggest slurping noise. That is so annoying and it makes me irritable. But what? Because my mother always! Always complained and bitched at my father for making a noise when he ate. My irritability is no because my hubby is eating noisily, it's because aspects of my mother permeate my being. That's the annoying thing.

I smile, life is okay! As Soberlicious said - it's not a first world problem.

All about perspective and how I look at things that may annoy.

Hope this helps Fred.

Kind regards

PamelaR

[fred2018]

Hi Pamela thanks for your help, I have been practicising giving my self a mental distance if something is irritating me as sometimes it turns to anger. As I my mood has not been good due to depression/anxiety/probably starting my new medication , its happens quite easily so yeah its tricky and bit ridiculous but that is the human brain.

[White_Rose]

Hello Fred

I find myself getting irritated because I am irritated. Usually I know there is no good reason to be cranky, it simply appears out of the blue. So having tracked down the reason I can start changing my emotions. It is an emotion I feel and not always easy to send it away. That's when I get cranky with myself. Why do we make things so complicated?

It usually comes back to the same thing, I get cranky and feel I should manage better. I do recognise we get irritated with all sorts of things which tend to go away fairly easily but instead I end up telling myself off for feeling like this. And the outcome can end up in anger if I am not careful.

So I try to look at the original irritation to see what's happening. Usually it's because I'm tired or hungry or some other quite mundane reason apart from the self blame. It's quite different to flashbacks and I think I am initially scared this is what is happening, hence the self examination although my body reaction to each situation is completely different. I have learned over time to listen to my body and let it tell me what is wrong.

Our brains don't want to do any work and we are happy to go along with the current status. Congratulations on knowing when you are irritated. This may seem obvious but it is amazing how quickly the irritation can escalate and we get to anger or some other unwanted emotion. I don't think it matters what you do so long as it changes your attitude in a positive way.

Music, reading, some physical activity such as a walk or weeding, go and do something nice for someone, session at the gym. All these things work, it's a matter of what helps you the best and quickest.

Mary