The more precisely you name a bad feeling, the better you cope

People who can tell their negative feelings apart in fine detail tended to cope with them more effectively in daily life.

The study

In two studies, people reported many times a day on their feelings and on how they were trying to manage them. How finely people distinguished their negative feelings had little to do with which coping strategies they chose. For those who distinguished their feelings less finely, though, most strategies were more strongly linked with more negative emotion. The authors suggest that fine distinctions may help coping work.

Starting small

Moving past "bad" toward a more exact word, like disappointed, anxious, or lonely, can sharpen the picture. A daily mood check-in is a natural place to practice.