The RUI of Anxiety & Depression Disorders. What it is and Ways to Cope

Tonight, I wanted to share with my readers what RUI is and how it affects your disposition, particularly in those prone to anxiety or depression. RUI is something I learned about from a counselor quite some time ago, so I don't have a direct source to this other than my knowledge base, but, I'm sure you can find more online if you are further interested.

R = Reactivity
U = Urgency
I = Intensity

RUI situations can be any situation that causes conflict, despair, stress, fear, or triggers you into a depressive or anxious state.

Typically those whose minds are ruled heavily by the emotional portion of the brain (the amygdala) will react with unnecessary urgency and intensity to negative events.

As you can see, the emotional brain reacts much more quickly than the rational one. Allowing this portion of our brain to have so much control causes one to experience: emotional outbursts (can wreak havoc on your professional or even interpersonal relationships), extreme irritability, irrational anger, and the "act first think later" problem.

For those with trauma backgrounds this makes sense, to protect ourselves we need to make those snap decisions. We don't have time to think it out, it's the fight or flight response. Many abused during childhood bring RUI into their everyday lives as adults. This is not inclusive to only childhood trauma survivors but can affect anyone with depressive or anxious tendencies.

Responding in a heavily emotional way in our adult lives can have long standing consequences on our reputation as most people will not understand why you're behaving this way. They might think you're just being an ass or are crazy.

Let's now talk conversely about the logical brain and how it can help us with RUI behavioral concerns. As seen in illustration above, the logical brain reacts slower to stressful events or situations. This is very important to try and incorporate a more rationally minded approach in our every day lives. You've probably heard the blanket statement of "count to ten", well, if you struggle with RUI; you may want to count to 100.

This is not to say we need to completely switch gears and live only in the logical mind, rather we make decisions that delicately are balanced from a logical and emotional standpoint. This leads us to using our wise mind.

The wise mind is where we need to live. Much easier said than done. I hope you have enjoyed this article or it helps you in your own life. Staying in the wise mindset in the long term is better for our health and quality of life. As always, thank you for reading. Have a good day /night and full STEEM ahead!

Image source 1: http://mentallyaware.org/anxiety-disorder/
Image source 2:
http://zelphontheshelf.com/open-letter-to-mormons-and-apologists-about-emotional-reasoning/
Image source 3:
http://www.simplifyinginterfaces.com/2012/01/05/designing-a-user-experience-for-brains-that-are-10000-years-old/
Image source 4:
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/emotions-in-psychology/