Tolerating distress and regulating emotions in research

Julie Stricker
907-474-5406
Dec. 16, 2022

a woman with long hair and a baseball cap
UAF photo
Jessie Young-Robertson

Boreal forest ecologist and clinical mental health counselor Jessie Young-Robertson understands the stress that can accompany field work in remote settings. When researchers end up at a field station or on a research vessel, it may not be possible to get space when experiencing the mental and emotional distress that comes with daily living and doing a difficult job.

色视频下载淪cience is hard, particularly in remote settings,色视频下载 said Young-Robertson, a University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks researcher who is presenting a paper on the topic at the 2022 American Geophysical Union meeting.

色视频下载淚 think people struggle with managing distress in general,色视频下载 she said. 色视频下载淎nd I think sometimes we have a habit of not treating ourselves or each other very well when we色视频下载檙e experiencing distress.色视频下载

Young-Robertson noted that distress is different from stress.

色视频下载淒istress is like a really big feeling and a moment that is hard to manage,色视频下载 she said. 色视频下载淚t could be anger; it could be a big burst of anxiety. It色视频下载檚 usually due to something stressful occurring, like equipment breaking, things not going as planned or interpersonal struggles. Long-term distress tolerance or management is emotion regulation.色视频下载

Sometimes when people are in distress, they may do unhelpful things like yell at a colleague or a student, she said. 色视频下载淭hat has no place in the workplace.色视频下载 Unmanaged distress can also negatively impact our mental health.

色视频下载淚 think one of the barriers to being inclusive and diverse is that we don色视频下载檛 talk enough about interpersonal and mental health,色视频下载 Young-Robertson said. 色视频下载淲e don色视频下载檛 see the world as it is, we see it as we are.

色视频下载淎nd there are some tools that we can use for ourselves to get through the moment and manage things a little bit differently,色视频下载 she said. Mindfulness aimed at distress tolerance is one of the most accessible tools people can use in remote research environments.