When & How to Deal with Emotional Triggers : DEPTH Work vs. Width Work

Is there such a thing as healthy distraction when it comes to processing emotions? How do we know if we need a break from healing work? How do we know when to dive in and when to distract from uncomfortable emotions? How do we build capacity and safety in the body so we can engage with pain and emotional processing sustainably?

I like to use a framework that emerged from my own healing process to answer these tough questions, especially when it comes to dealing with fear, anxiety, and overwhelm.

“How can we allow ourselves to feel all of the emotion, all of the intensity, and be able to hold ourselves within it? To be able to let those emotions exist and expand within us? To sit with those emotions long enough to receive the wisdom that’s inherent within those emotions? There are messages that come about from sadness, depression, anger, anxiety, fear. Emotions in and of themselves are medicine, if we can allow ourselves to tolerate and remain with those emotions for long enough.”

— Jazmine Russell, DEPTH Work Podcast Episode 07

In this episode you’ll learn:

how to discern when to dive into the healing process, and when it makes sense to ease up and take time away
why a sense of somatic safety and capacity in the body is crucial to healing
how the framework of depth vs width work can help you stay grounded in dealing with emotional triggers
quick questions to ask when dealing with anxiety, fear, and overwhelming emotions

Depth Work - A Holistic Mental Health Podcast

This is a space for those who love to dive into the underbelly, to revel in the mystery, question assumptions about what is normal, play in the both/and, and honor the wide range of human emotions.

As a complex trauma survivor, holistic counsellor and co-founder of a mental health institute, I learned that there is immense wisdom in our pain and what we call crazy is just what we are yet not willing to understand and explore. Let’s dive in!

View Podcast on spotify