Jigsaws - The Ultimate Distraction Technique

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I find jigsaws to be a really effective distraction technique.  Due to my mental health difficulties, particularly BPD, I experience bouts of very intense emotion and high anxiety.  During these times I usually experience very intrusive negative thoughts and images.  In the past, these bouts of emotion have unfortunately posed a real risk to my safety.  I can quickly feel as though I am completely engulfed by emotion and feel incapable of functioning on any level.  

I have found that the only thing that I can do during these times is use a simple task to distract my mind away from the intrusive negativity and allow for the bout of emotion to pass while keeping myself safe.  Over the past couple of months, I have been using a jigsaw app on my iPad for this purpose and it has been working really well.  I think it works for me because it is an activity that requires little thought yet demands some level of concentration in order to fit the pieces together.  By concentrating on the jigsaw, I can distract my mind away from the other things I am experiencing.  Perhaps owing to my OCD traits, I have always really liked shape, symmetry and order and I find slotting the pieces of the image together comforting and satisfying for some reason.  When in a really desperate state, all I have to do is reach for my iPad and click on the app.  It's reassuring to know that a distraction technique is so readily at hand, even when out and about.

On the jigsaw app I use, new images are released everyday.  I think the images are really positive and inspiring which works well when used as a distraction technique.  You can pick the amount of pieces you want the puzzle to have - I always go for the maximum 400 pieces!  I find I get a bit of a sense of achievement when I complete one which is quite refreshing when in a state where you feel completely cut off from life and incapable of doing anything.  I've also found the jigsaw app very useful at times of high anxiety, particularly when out in public.  I find waiting particularly anxiety provoking and I've had to do a lot of that recently.  I almost start to think that I spend most of my life waiting for health related appointments.  I often whip out my iPad while I'm sitting in a waiting room and carry on with one of my jigsaws if the wait starts to make me feel anxious.  Here are all the jigsaws I've completed over the past two months, they are a bit of a mismatch of images but they have been a life saver at times!

         

         

          

                         

                          

         

                        

        

        

        

        

        

        

        

The One Day Seeker