The Origin of Everyday Moods by Robert E. Thayer has some most useful concepts for mental health recovery. He studied thousands of undergraduate students for about 15 years. He had people keep track of how they felt and how they changed moods and arrived at a notion that there are 4 basic moods: calm energy, tense energy, calm tired and tense tired. Each of these presents a unique opportunity for coping with moods.

The best mood is high energy and low tension, a state of security in which the mind is open and able to concentrate and the body has energy to spare. Undergrads do their best studying by far in this mood called Calm Energy.

Here mental health recovery is going smoothly. But if we grasp it too hard the mood goes away and mental health recovery becomes difficult. It is not skillful for coping with moods to try to grasp at them as we get tired.

The distant second best mood is high tension and high energy, called Tense Energy. The person has energy, but is anxious and distractible and is not nearly as productive as Calm Energy.

Here mental health recovery is difficult. This sounds like mania beginning. Or a panic attack. Coping with moods at this point is clearly indicated.

Third in rank is Calm Tiredness. As the name suggests on is fading toward sleep and it takes physical movement to keep from falling asleep.

For mental health recovery get some sleep. This is basic for coping with moods. We will have a post soon on sleep.

The worst mood is Tense Energy. The person feel insufficient energy to face the tasks at hand and yet tension keeps the mind racing. Beyond this is simple exhaustion. Tense tired is not the same as depression but it is the mood that usually underlies depression. It is the state when you can’t go to sleep and sift over the day again and again looking for the worst. Need to do something right away to maintain mental health recovery. Keep this up to long and a relapse is coming most likely. For internal links on coping click on this.

How to change moods? This is a great mental health recovery skill. The beauty of Thayer’s research is that it is grounded in the experience of thousands of people. He can say with some authority that the best way for coping with moods is to walk, or talk to a friend, or meditate or pray.

James Rippe, MD, at the University of Massachusetts has expanded on Thayer’s work to test combinations. Walking meditation, or prayer-walking are better than walking or prayer or meditation alone.. Perhaps its not surprising that people like Ghandi or Christ spent lots of time walking and talking to their disciples or in prayer or meditation.

Walk with friends and walk with your Higher Power.

How to start? Choose a prayer or mantra—peace, shalom, Not my will, but Thine—and repeat it rhythmically as you walk, say, every time your left foot hits the ground. Or simply stay with the breath. Even simpler. Just stay here at this present time. i often just stay with my feet whether walking, sitting, standing, or laying down. Kaizen recommends staying with the feet to deal with too many thoughts. He recommends staying with the brow line for sinking or down mood.

All these methods for coping with moods support mental health recovery.

Professor Ed

Coping with Moods, Mental Health Recovery | mental health recovery

Here mental health recovery is going smoothly. But if we grasp it too hard the mood goes away and mental health recovery becomes difficult. It is not skillful for coping with moods to try to grasp at them as we get tired.

Here mental health recovery is difficult. This sounds like mania beginning. Or a panic attack. Coping with moods at this point is clearly indicated.

For mental health recovery get some sleep. This is basic for coping with moods. We will have a post soon on sleep.

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