A circuit breaker is an automated safety device that cuts off power if a system detects a fault or overload.
Circuit breakers interrupt or ‘trip’ the system, stopping the electrical current in its tracks before it can cause any harm. Without circuit breakers, electricity surges would cause many more fires and damage to devices.
Circuit breakers are a simple solution to a potentially deadly and costly problem. When a circuit trips, we simply open the fuse box, flick a switch, and providing there is no deeper fault going on, we reset the system.
Circuit breakers for mental health
Now, imagine if we could do this with our brains.
How much potential damage to our mental and physical health could we prevent if we had an automated switch that simply cut off the power to our unhelpful thought patterns before they escalated to breaking point?
The good news is, we can apply circuit breakers to protect our mental health using the same type of logic that protects our electronics.
Mental health circuit breakers are not automated. They require awareness, self-reflection and practise, but the more that we apply circuit breakers to ‘trip’ our unhelpful thinking before our thoughts trip us, the easier and more habitual this becomes.
The first step to applying a mental health circuit breaker is understanding how they work and when they can be helpful. In other words, having an awareness of our thoughts and feelings and having an understanding of when we need to break those patterns of unhelpful thoughts before we feel overloaded.
How do circuit breakers for mental health work?
Our brains are comprised of neurons (around 100 billion of them!). Neurons release brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) which generate electrical signals (or messages) in neighbouring neurons. These electrical patterns lead to thought formation and behaviours.
The same thought or action will generate the same pattern of electrical impulses and neurons firing and the more frequently this pattern occurs, the more entrenched it becomes.
For example, the thought and action process behind riding a bike or driving a car feels very awkward at first and takes a high level of concentration, but after a certain amount of repetition, ‘bike riding’ or ‘car driving’ thoughts and behaviours become so ingrained in our minds they are habitual and we no longer consciously think as we act out these behaviours (unless we are doing something unusual, like parallel parking with an audience).
Changing these behaviours once they are ingrained can be very difficult, but it is possible. For example, if we want to change our posture on a bike, or alter driving habits for a test, we need to break those usual patterns of neural firing and replace them with a new circuit.
To do this, we might need a cycling coach or a driving instructor to analyse our technique and give us reminders that stop us in our thought and behaviour tracks and encourage us to get our neural patterns firing in a different way.
Or, we can make a conscious effort to take a step back, analyse our own thoughts and behaviours, and purposefully send our thoughts and actions in a different direction until we have successfully changed our neural pattern.
When can we use a circuit breaker?
Mental health circuit breakers can be helpful any time we want to send our thoughts in a different direction.
This could be:
When we want to change a habitual or entrenched behaviour, e.g ‘give something up’ or introduce a new behaviour (say, cut down on drinking as a response to stress, or try introducing more pro-social behaviours to improve our relationships or social connection). See our previous three part blog series on change here for more about changing behaviour.
When we want to stop ruminating (overthinking) in order to stop an unhelpful thought pattern from escalating, for example, halting anxious thoughts before we become overwhelmed by anxiety.
Artist credit: Chuck Draws Things https://twitter.com/charlubby
What do we actually do to break the circuit? How do we use a circuit breaker?
When it comes to our electrical systems, circuit breakers are built into the design and simply work for us. All we need to do is make sure that we buy devices that meet the recommended quality standard and let them do their job.
Our mental health is not quite so simple. We can’t pick a new, refreshed brain off the shelf each time we feel like we need a reset! However, we can create and modify our environment and our thinking patterns in ways that are more likely to help us thrive.
A circuit breaker is something that suddenly snaps us out of a particular thought pattern. It does not need to be complicated and all we need is to think it or do it.
For example - if I say to you right now - pink elephants are dancing ! I can guarantee that whatever thoughts you had a moment ago (psychology, mental health at work, thriving, unhelpful thought patterns, New Years resolutions, etc,) have now been replaced by an image related to pink elephants dancing.
An effective circuit breaker is anything that immediately stops the thought you want to stop. By stopping the thought, you stop the escalating thoughts and any behaviours and emotions that usually develop from that thought. Something which achieves this is likely to be a dramatic and sudden change from the thought pattern you want to stop and may be associated with a change of scenery or change in awareness relating to your physical senses.
Watch Glia Director and Registered Psychologist Bridget Jelley talking about circuit breakers on LinkedIn here.
Click here to read the post and watch the video on LinkedIn.
Example circuit breakers
Something that makes you laugh - especially the unexpected
A sudden change in temperature - for example a cold swim or hot water bottle. Some people may instinctively splash their faces with cold water when they want to focus or change their thought pattern and this is one reason why we do this.
Dancing, or going for a walk or run
Changing your environment - leaving your desk and going for a stroll will introduce a variety of new thoughts simply because you are in a different place
Listening to music, especially music that changes your mood - have a go-to play list that brings you back to upbeat memories or makes you want to sing
Touching a pet (this will increase oxytocin and lower cortisol)
Can leaders design circuit breakers for their people?
Of course ! Taking breaks at work is one very simple example. When was the last time you saw (or experienced yourself) someone come off a difficult call or get stuck on a complex problem, and suggested ‘go take a break - clear your head and take a walk, stretch your legs, get away from your desk.’
Instinctively, we know that when we are feeling overloaded, getting away from the overload environment (the ‘power surge’) helps us to reset our mental systems so we can come back to work feeling refreshed.
Leaders can build circuit breakers into their people systems by actively designing for those times when people are likely to get overloaded and need a break. This could be pre-planned to occur during a busy project or peak times of the month or year or it could be re-active - when you notice your people are getting overloaded, switch the breaker on.
Circuit breakers for your people could be a physical break, a change in work pattern, a change in environment or an action or activity that changes the tone of the room (or for that person).
Designing effective circuit breakers requires:
Knowing your people (different people will have different overload thresholds, different triggers, and may prefer different sorts of resets)
Checking in with your people to find out if what you have designed is effective. You may think that a team game is a great idea whereas for some people this will be their idea of hell
Understanding the flow of work - if you are not on the tools, do you know what the stressors are for your people? When are those overload times happening? Can overloads be eased or eliminated to prevent them in future? (on this topic make sure you look out for our upcoming webinar on What to Do about Workload! - sign up for our newsletter here for updates, and save the date, 7 Feb 2024, 12pm NZT)
Having an awareness of where your people sit on the neurodiversity spectrum and how this impacts their thinking and behaviour in relation to work. For example, if a person has a tendency to hyperfocus, then their cues for needing a break might be different to someone else. If someone has environmental adjustment needs to thrive then putting the right environment in place may be the first solution. If a person requires dimmer lighting to function well and this is not provided and then they become overloaded, this is a case of them not having their basic needs met rather than a regular ‘circuit breaker’ moment.
Remember, all of our electrical systems require circuit breakers in order to function safely and optimally. If you or your team needs a circuit break, that doesn’t mean that you or they are faulty - it means that you are responding in a totally normal way to your environment.
Creating a circuit break is simply getting the best out of your brain by adjusting your environment.
Did you find this helpful? Want to check out more of our stuff?
Look out for our 2024 program of workshops, coming soon.
The first is a must to get your year planned.
Public Workshop: Strategic Wellbeing at Work - Amplifying your Annual Wellbeing Plan - 23rd January 24, 0900 - 1200, Hamilton. Check the details out here.
Zero-cost lunchtime WorkFit Webinar: all about Keeping Your Calm for Christmas. Save the date now - 29 Nov at 12pm NZT.
Bridget Jelley will be joined by special guest Dr. Iain McCormick. Iain is a very experienced Psychologist and quite literally an expert on stress.
Both Iain and Bridget are experienced speakers and workplace psychology is their bread and butter.
Bridget and Iain will be focusing on practical strategies to keep your December calm rather than crazy, looking at approaches from an organisational, leader and individual level.
If you want to glide rather than crash, bang, scream and thump your way into the holidays then this is the webinar for you.
Tune in via the link here!
