Pets
fromPsychology Today
6 days agoHow a Huggy Dog Is Helping Children With Wartime Trauma
Hibuki, a stuffed animal dog, helps children cope with wartime trauma by allowing them to project their feelings and practice self-soothing.
Picture this: Your new puppy is pressed against the corner of the room, trembling slightly as you call their name. Their tail, which should be wagging with excitement, is tucked firmly between their legs. You've done everything the books told you, bought all the right toys, followed the feeding schedule perfectly, yet somehow your furry friend seems more nervous with each passing day.
What's the big idea? Why do we fall into the same patterns-whether that's people-pleasing, perfectionism, or emotional numbing-even when we know they're not good for us? These strategies help us feel safe, but replacing that armor with inner strength lets us move with freedom instead of fear. Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite-read by Kati herself-in the Next Big Idea App. 1. Control is a survival strategy.
Self-soothing advice is all over the internet, much of it in the form of warnings to avoid potentially damaging sorts like "shopping therapy" or bingeing on Ben and Jerry's, or worse, vodka martinis. Instead, experts suggest using the "good" ones, which seem to run the gamut from stimulating your vagus nerve to hugging yourself. Among the University of Miami's recommendations to faculty and staff in their current summer newsletter is "tapping."
Most of us have been reminded many times to practice self-care for the sake of our own physical and mental health or general well-being. We have been advised to eat a healthy diet, include some physical activity in each day, and get adequate sleep. These habits have been characterized as self-nurturant skills (Webb, 2014). It's not difficult to see how these actions would improve general well-being; you might even consider them to be obvious parts of a balanced lifestyle.