We hear the term emotion regulation all the time. This concept has even become increasingly popular in the mental health field. It is even becoming a household term via social media and popularized books. But what exactly is emotion regulation? And how does evidence-based treatment use emotion regulation in therapy?
Emotion regulation sometimes refers generally to how people experience or manage emotions (e.g., in developmental psychology). Social and clinical psychology study the specific emotion regulation strategies people use in-the-moment to modify or influence how we feel. These approaches explore how we manage our emotions and the later effects that has on our mood, emotions, and social life (e.g., cost vs benefit to well-being).
Typically, research finds that certain strategies tend to lead to certain outcomes. For example, suppressing emotion typically has negative effects on mood, cognition, and social interactions. Interestingly, “explosive” emotional rebound effects do not occur after suppressing emotion (even though they occur after suppressing thoughts). On the other hand, strategies like cognitive reappraisal or emotional acceptance have shown positive effects in research. Mindfulness appears increase awareness of one’s emotional experience.
Other research finds that it’s not about the strategy itself, but the context in which it is utilized. For example, it actually helps to suppress your emotions in some situations. Yelling at someone else when annoyed can lead to lost social support or other negative outcomes. What’s more, emotion regulation appears to have different effects on different emotions (e.g., anxiety vs sadness).
It might be apparent that emotion regulation in therapy is inherent. Therapy involves helping clients find tools to cope with difficult emotions and distress that arise. And many of these strategies map on to therapy well. Many therapy approaches using emotion regulation can be learned through continuing education courses.
For instance, DBT emphasizes mindfulness, emotional acceptance, and other strategies to manage emotions. CBT and CPT use cognitive reappraisal of thoughts and beliefs to relieve emotional distress and increase more situationally-appropriate behaviors. ACT emphasizes acceptance of emotions to stay engaged in situations consistent with one’s values. Exposure therapies give people the ability to counteract avoidance of emotionally distressing situations. As in prolonged exposure for PTSD, CBT and exposure for social anxiety, and EMDR.
Some clients need additional resources for emotion regulation in therapy. Other individuals do not want therapy at all. Self-help resources can help compliment therapy or provide alternative support. A good book on emotion regulation also helps general audiences understand.
Therapy uses specific in-the-moment strategies to help people learn how to improve emotion regulation. This is a proven way to help clients experience less distress and get what they want out of their lives.
