S.A.F.E Psychotherapy

S.A.F.E is the acronym to remember the moods of:

S Sadness

A Anger

F Fear

EEnjoyment/Happiness/Elation

This model is designed to help people practically manage stress in their lives.

As a Psychotherapist I have been working with clients for nearly 20 years, helping them to manage their stress and regain the ability to enjoy life again. I, therefore, began to see common patterns emerge in their feelings, thought patterns and behaviours. Over time I realised that these feelings could be condensed into the 4 moods of Sadness, Anger, Fear and Enjoyment.

Another commonality I noticed was that:

Stress is caused by perceived negative changes in our life. Usually, beginnings or ends.
(e.g. Bereavement, Divorce, Redundancy, Bankruptcy, Birth of a Child, World War, Tsunamis, Plague etc.)
COVID-19 has particularly increased stress for the majority of people on Earth, taking us into some form of Sadness, Anger and Fear.

Stress is defined as:

A mixture of Sad, Angry and Fearful feelings, thoughts and behaviours.
i.e. The MORE stressed we are, the LESS enjoyment we experience.

Moods =[creates]=> Feelings and Emotions =[creates]=> Thoughts =[creates]=> Behaviour

So, if we change our behaviour, we can change the way we think and feel.
In my S.A.F.E MODEL, a Mood is defined as:
A range of feelings, emotions and behaviours.

Changing Self Care Behaviour to Manage Stress

When we are under stress our physical body automatically chemically changes. Our Limbic system, that controls our body, cannot discern the difference between being physically attacked or our Logical Mind perceiving threat with hidden anger and fear thoughts (detailed in the SAFE Model Summary above).

As the Fight – Flight response is activated our Limbic system automatically “turns on” our adrenal glands to produce adrenaline. In the present moment Adrenaline is very useful as it pushes blood into our muscles ready for action and allows us to move very quickly to survive either by physically fighting with increased strength, or running away very quickly. This response goes back to Caveman days when we did not have logic speech, reason, language or thoughts. It automatically turns off once we are out of danger and can eat again i.e. we have won our battle or run to a place of safety.

The reason being that the physical activity has burned off the adrenaline, so the Limbic System then releases endorphin to calm us down.

However, if the only option was to freeze and wait for the threat to pass the adrenaline floods the system keeping the body on “Red Alert” in case we still needed to go into Flight mode. At this point the appetite would be suppressed as taking on board food would potentially slow the Cave person down. The sleep response would also be put on hold so the Cave Person would Catnap.

Consequently when we are living in Stress (SAFE Mood score 2-5) our self-care routines are normally abandoned.

Self-care: Controlling what we can control to make sure our physical body is the best it can be. In a nutshell this is control of: Diet, Exercise & Sleep.

When we are not living in Stress (SAFE Mood score 6-8) we have the ability to focus on a healthy diet (3 regular healthy balanced meals per day), maintain a physical activity routine (min of 30 minutes per day aerobic activity) and ensure we are in a regular sleep pattern (8 hours per night).

When we are stressed and in Freeze Mode, we do not reach for a bowl of salad! We want fat and sugar foods which give our body instant energy but do not turn off the adrenal glands. When we eat a healthy meal the Limbic System automatically switches to Insulin production to digest the food and it has to turn off the adrenal glands. Therefore, 3 healthy meals a day keeps the body physically calm. If we look at food as fuel, if you have your biggest meals of the day at breakfast and lunch and a light tea/supper, you will sleep more soundly.

In a nutshell, the Behavioural Changes to manage stressful situation are:

Be physically active for at least 5 hours per day with a min of 30 minutes high aerobic activity to physically exert yourself. (Within the medical guidelines of your GP)
Eat a large healthy breakfast and lunch and a small evening meal.
Cut down fat and sugar foods to a minimum. (Sweets, chocolate crisps, fizzy drinks, Cakes – all the things that cause type-II diabetes)
Practice a mindfulness breathing exercise such as the SAFE Rule of 7 (min of 2 x Daily)