Emotional Hijacking: What It Means And How To Overcome It

Darren Magee

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Emotional Hijacking: What It Means And How To Overcome It

Have you ever heard of the term emotional hijacking? Well, today we are going to talk about what it means and define emotional hijacking, so that it’s easier for you to understand, in case this happens to you.

Emotional hijacking is the term used for what happens when someone’s ability to think rationally becomes overpowered by their emotions. It is most commonly experienced when people lash out aggressively or become intensely fearful.

It is an intense emotional outburst triggered by what could even be innocent or innocuous.

Emotional hijacking isn’t something that just happens spontaneously. It is usually past events and experiences that an individual finds disturbing that keeps being internalized.

If that person keeps facing those problems, there is a point where the stress becomes too much to manage.

This can result in the instinctive, emotional part of the brain taking over – hijacking the rational part and the result is an explosion of extreme and intense emotions.

Related: 5 Signs Your Anxiety Hijacked Your Intuition (And How To Get It Back)

It is instant and in the case of an angry outburst can be quite destructive. If it is something that keeps happening it can have a negative effect on relationships as well as leave an impression of being emotionally unstable and unpredictable.

The mood swings can affect the mental health of not only the individual but also the people around them, People may fear doing or saying anything that triggers an outburst.

Emotional hijacking isn’t a pleasant experience. Not only for the person being hijacked but for those around them as well. There are different ways to help address emotional hijacking.

Emotional hijacking
Emotional Hijacking: What It Means And How To Overcome It

How To Cope With Emotional Hijacking?

A trained therapist can help people to learn to respond rather than react to the triggers. The therapy can also provide a space to explore and challenge the unhelpful emotion provoking thoughts.

Counselling can help explore what lies behind and triggers the outbursts. It can help exploring better ways to communicate thoughts and feelings more appropriately before it becomes an avalanche of intense terror or rage.

Counselling can help with taking ownership of yourself and look at how our actions affect our relationships with others. Building resilience and mindfulness exercises can also help reduce the intensity and frequency of the outbursts.

Written By Darren Magee
Originally Appeared On Sentient Counselling
define emotional hijacking
Emotional Hijacking: What It Means And How To Overcome It

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— About the Author —

Darren Magee

Darren is a grounded, down to earth therapist with many years experience working with individuals, couples and groups providing counselling in Belfast. Practicing an integrative approach, he draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Person Centred, Psychodynamic and Solution Focused approaches to maximise support for clients. He has experience working with issues such as trauma, chronic illness, abuse, personality disorder, addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, anger, anxiety, relationship issues and bereavement. Darren is a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) as well as an Accredited Professional Registrant member of the National Counselling Society (NCS) and works to their code of ethics. For more information visit www.bacp.co.uk or www.nationalcounsellingsociety.org Darren is also an Anxiety UK approved therapist providing therapeutic support to the charities members and partner beneficiaries. He is subject to Anxiety UK’s regular monitoring of his professional qualifications, supervision, continual professional development and professional body membership in addition to complying with the ethical framework and professional standards set down by his registered governing body. Darren also provides clinical supervision as well as counselling in Belfast for other therapists and professionals in healthcare or managerial positions. Darren is author of the book ‘Surviving Other People’s Self Esteem‘. It is available on Kindle, ibooks, and other e-reading devices. He has been trained to use the Rewind Technique for working with PTSD. Darren is a trained, experienced mediator and a member of the Northern Ireland Counselling Forum as well as a registered therapist with BUPA. Check out his YouTube channel here for insightful videos.

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