Unplug to Reconnect

UTRGV President of The Psychology Club and therapist both share their thoughts on unplugging from media platforms and taking priority in mental hygiene. 

UTRGV Supervising Clinical Therapist Leah Ellis said everybody has stress in their life and avoiding it can make it worse.

“Sometimes it takes us getting to that point to start paying attention to ourselves,” Ellis said.

She added many people have a difficult time expressing their emotions because they were never aware of how to show their feelings.

UTRGV Psychology Club President Kassandra Flores said mental health is not something talked about enough, especially in Hispanic culture, which causes generations to be silent about their emotions.

“It is very important that we have more outreach, more acceptance, because the stigma around people being ‘crazy’  is not the case,” Flores added. 

 Therapist Ellis and Flores both suggest distancing from social media when a person feels overwhelmed or upset.

“Obviously people want to be informed, but if people are paying attention to themselves and are noticing that connecting to that information is causing them harm, then maybe they should consider taking in less sources,” Ellis said. 

Flores recommended unplugging for one to two hours, or how much is necessary. Restrict screen time, and focus on hobbies like running and reading a book to stabilize the mind and body.  

“Be more intentional when using the phone and acknowledging that there will be upsetting things that will appear and to know when to set the phone down when feeling overwhelmed,” Ellis said. 

The therapist describes using grounding techniques like body scan meditation to bring the person back to their bodies when they are feeling overstimulated. When doing this technique the person should close their eyes, sit up or lay down, then they start tuning into different parts of their body. The person should start feeling sensations from the bottom of their feet and keep on going till they reach the crown of their head.

“All we are doing is using the sensation of the body to connect to the present moment,” Ellis said. 

The Club President also suggested bringing a person back into the present moment by using the five-step technique. 

The technique is having a person see five things, touch four things, hear three things, smell two things and taste one thing. 

“The main focus about it is that you look at your surroundings and come back around yourself, touch, smell, hear, anything you might need,” Flores said.

For people who are feeling scared and anxious, Ellis and Flores both state to be around community, so they will be less alone in this.

“Community can be healing too, finding not just a professional but our circles of family and friends and being able to talk about these things in those circles,” Ellis said.

Flores added,“the club wants to bring community to the UTRGV students. The club wants to show the people that they are not alone.”

The Psychology Club holds their meetings from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Thursday on the Edinburg campus.

The Counseling Center is on both the Edinburg and Brownsville campus, meetings can be scheduled to talk to therapists.

“You don’t have to be tuned 24/7, to be a person that is informed,” Ellis said.