How much do you know about self-help?

Our self-help program aims to improve college students' stress management skills through self-care practices. In addition to not knowing your alternatives for the future, living in a fast-paced world with an endless to-do list can be stressful in itself. The heavy workload that comes with being in college can be daunting and can lead to poor coping techniques when dealing with this stress. We hope that by participating in our self-help activities, we can lessen the anxiety that college students feel and direct them toward certain activities that can help them learn how to manage their stress.

Breaking the cycle

The chart below shows how self-care practices can help you go from a maladaptive to an adaptive cycle. It is essential to slow down and check in on how you are regulating your stress and emotions. Take time for yourself. The mind space you are in while meditating, drawing art, and journaling allows you to distance yourself from the stress and go into a space of self-enjoyment.

The Purpose of Our Project

The purpose of our Self-Help project is to help college students navigate their stress through the correct coping methods. our Coping Methods Include Journaling, Creative outlets, and Mindfulness Meditation. When we experience stress our executive functions are challenged which makes it harder to stay organized. These activities are remedies to this. Journaling, Creative outlets, and mindfulness meditation are intended to help connect system 1 and system 2. System 1 is responsible for the “fast, automatic, unconscious decisions that require little or no thought or effort” (Budson, 2022, 271). Since these actions are unconscious, it is difficult to change these habits and biases that were developed over time. On the other hand, system 2 forces you to “consciously consider and fully attend to each of these decisions and actions” (Budson, 2022, 271). It is not uncommon for college students to create unhealthy habits that prevent them from achieving self-regulation. System 2 can be used to alter automatic actions or habits in System 1 to better suit your needs. Through engagement in these activities, you will be able to change the way you deal with stress into more positive coping methods.

Why It Should Work

When we experience stress, our executive functions are challenged making it hard to stay organized. These activities are remedies to this by altering the neuron pathway so that change can occur. Our memory is malleable, meaning it is adaptive to change and what we engage in and experience, therefore, these activities can cause a positive shift in the maladaptive cycle and provide positive coping mechanisms for stress. This program also utilizes the wise intervention approach with the activities provided in order to change the narratives participants use to cope with stress.

Self-care Activities

Journaling

https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-journaling#self-discovery

- Create a to-do list or schedule essential activities on a calendar to help organize and declutter your mind.
- Throughout the day, journal your thoughts and feelings to help you analyze what you've accomplished and what remains to be done, making the task at hand appear less daunting. Recognizing the emotions you experience is beneficial.
- Write down anything that is causing you anxiety so that you can separate your harmful thoughts and feel more in control of them.

Creative Outlets

https://emilyandblair.com/steps/art-activities-for-stress-relief/

This is a list of different forms of art, but one from this list that we prefer to focus on is creating a postcard since it enables emotions to be drawn or written when under stress about life and connections with other people. When talking through what is happening is not an effective choice, this can be a technique for people to self-regulate and de-stress.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/arts-and-health/201509/bilateral-drawing-self-regulation-trauma-reparation

This article explains how bilateral drawing can aid trauma survivors with stress management and self-regulation. While this activity was initially designed to help trauma survivors, it can be helpful for anyone.

https://ggie.berkeley.edu/practice/drawing-as-a-way-to-manage-emotions/#tab__2

This page provides examples of drawing prompts as well as evidence for the benefits of sketching for individuals. Although this method is promoted for teachers and preschoolers, it may be used at any age and at any time to help with stress management.

Meditation

https://insig.ht/tPZPjiW34yb

This guided meditation is nine minutes and uses affirmations to help lower tension and anxiety. With soothing music, encouraging words, and assistance in being aware of the present and one's body at the moment, the speaker leads the listener through meditation.

https://insig.ht/tCZ50Hz44yb

This mindfulness exercise is titled "Time to Unwind." This 11-minute meditation is intended to be used at the end of a demanding day. You can use this meditation to unwind and pay attention to your body's needs and where your mind is at. This is a great way to catch your breath before the day is over.

https://insig.ht/zXtwt1B54yb

The body scan meditation makes it possible for listeners to become more attuned to their internal bodily sensations. By sensing every area of your body and taking note of the sensations you experience, this meditation helps you unwind. It enables listeners to establish a connection with their system 1 and relax their basic body functions.

References & Recommended Readings

Budson, A. E., Richman, K.A., & Kensinger, E. A. (2022). Consciousness as a memory system. Cognitive Behavioral Neurology, 35, 263 – 297.

This reading Gives you insight into our basic memory processes and how system one and system two processes connect and can be influenced.

Schamel, C. (2020). The self of self-help books is adrift from social and economic facts. Retrieved from:https://psyche.co/ideas/the-self-of-self-help-books-is-adrift-from-social-and-economic-facts

This article discusses pop-culture self-help books and methods and how much they differ from psychologically backed evidence. It is important to understand what self-help activities are backed by psychology and to be critical of the ones we choose to engage in.

Walton, G. M. (2018). Wise Intervention: Psychological remedies for social and personal problems. Psychological review, 125(5), 617.

This article is essential for understanding how to make changes to the long-lasting habits we have created. The wise-intervention model, emphasizes the importance of changing your habits and the narrative about you. In doing so, what was maladaptive will eventually become adaptive. This encourages the method of behave, reflect, behave, reflect, and the process continues.

Take a look at the essays we wrote over the course of crafting this self-help project!

Essay 1.pdf

Essay 1

Essay 2.pdf

Essay 2

Essay 3 PSY 314.pdf

Essay 3

authors

Ku'ulei Ego

Major: Kinesiology, Psychology

Minor: Economics

Hometown: Kailua, HI

Future Plans: become an occupational therapist within the populations of pediatrics or geriatrics

I hope that college-aged people take away different ways that they can cope with stress that is effective long term.

Taya McCallum

Major: Education

Minor: Psychology

Hometown: Chehalis, WA

Future plans: become an elementary teacher after graduating in 2024

I hope to help college students create self-help habits that are beneficial for them in overcoming the stress that comes with daily life. It is okay to be stressed but it is important that we know how to not let it overtake us.

Lily Persons

Major: Kinesiology

Minor: Psychology

Hometown: Stayton, OR

Future Plans: become an Occupational Therapist and specialize in the pediatric population.

I hope that college students learn how to view the stressors in their life as manageable so they avoid getting burnt out and discouraged early in life. Stress is a normal occurrence and can be minimized if you learn how to overcome it.

Nykki Wada

Major: Psychology

Hometown: Mililani, HI

Future plans: move back home after graduation and get my masters in school counseling

I hope to provide college students with positive coping skills. All of us doing this project know the stress students are under during school and I hope our self-help mechanisms can help.

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