If you want to connect with people, make friends, and be successful at school and work, you must be able to control your emotions. Mindy Pearson, PhD, at Advent Family Psychology, has extensive experience helping children and adults learn the emotional regulation skills they need to achieve the life they envision. To learn more about how to manage your emotions, call the office in Lehi, Utah, or book an appointment online today.
Emotional regulation is the ability to control the way you express and respond to your emotions. Emotions — anger, anxiety, fear, dread, joy, hate, love, sorrow, shame, and guilt — are triggered by your environment, but they come from your brain and have a direct influence on your behavior and reactions.
Your brain receives information and gives it an emotion based on how you interpret the event. For example, a friend may walk past you without saying hello. You may interpret that in a negative way (they hate me or they’re rude) or a positive way (they didn’t see me, maybe they’re upset).
Your emotional reactions occur rapidly, often out of your conscious awareness. Being able to regulate your emotions allows you to intervene in this process, consciously rethink what’s happening, and prevent a challenging situation from causing an inappropriate emotional outburst.
Throughout childhood, your parents, caretakers, teachers, and others show you how to regulate emotions. They may give you direct instructions and information, teaching concepts like labeling and expressing feelings, recognizing that actions have consequences, and calming down before reacting.
You also learn by observing the way others react to events. This can lead to positive and negative ways of managing emotions.
A healthy brain is essential for good emotional regulation. Problems can occur in the brain that affect this ability and result in emotional dysregulation.
Emotional dysregulation is the inability to moderate and control your emotions, especially when they’re negative. This can happen for various reasons, including:
Experiences that change the way you control emotions include:
Any time children and adults have a negative experience, it rewires their brains and affects their emotional reactions.
Some mental health disorders affect your ability to manage emotions. These disorders are associated with imbalanced brain chemicals in the areas that process and regulate emotions. A few examples include:
You can improve any of these mental health disorders and your emotional regulation with psychotherapy.
Dr. Pearson uses many therapeutic techniques to help children, teens, and adults learn to manage their emotions. She recommends the best treatment approach based on each person’s age, any underlying mental health disorders, and their personal preferences.
If you or your child need help managing emotions, call Advent Family Psychology or book an appointment online today.