Linehan Borderline Personality Disorder Chapter 9 1
Specific Emotion Regulation Skills 2
Identifying and labelling emotions 2
Identifying obstacles to changing emotions 2
Reducing vulnerability to Emotion Mind 2
Increasing positive emotional Events 2
Increasing Mindfulness to Current Emotions 2
Taking Opposite Action 2
Applying distress tolerance techniques 2
Treatment 2
Goals of Emotional regulation training 2
Understanding emotions 3
Observe and describe 3
What do they do for you 4
Reducing emotional vulnerability 4
Decrease negative vulnerability 4
Increase positive emotions 4
Decrease emotional suffering 5
Mindfulness of emotions 5
Acting the opposite to the current emotion 5
Linehan Borderline Personality Disorder Chapter 9
Often it is feelings that are the problems to be solved when
they are intolerably painful.
Standard unhelpful emotional regulation is through trying
not to feel, borne from an emotionally invalidating environment, i.e. smile
when you’re unhappy, don’t rock the boat.
Some people are told change your attitude and you would
change how you feel, and they see other people with cognitive control over
their emotions. Some have come from
environments which show that they are right, and the person without control is
wrong. Thus there may be resistance to emotional control.
To regulate your emotions first of all we need to engage
with them non-judgementally.
Specific Emotion Regulation Skills
Identifying and labelling emotions
To regulate you need to identify emotions, however they are
complex. What you need to do then is to
identify
1.
The event prompting the emotions
2.
The interpretation of the event that prompted
the emotion
3.
The description of the emotion
4.
The behaviours expressing the emotion
5.
The after effects of the emotion
Identifying obstacles to changing emotions
What is the function of the emotion, what is its consequence?
Generally emotions communicate to others and motivate your behaviour. Emotions can influence and control other people’s
behaviour and can validate one owns perceptions of events.
Reducing vulnerability to Emotion Mind
People are more prone to emotional reactivity when they are
under physical or environmental stress. So here good self-care\behavioural
activation can help with emotional management.
Increasing positive emotional Events
Often unpleasant emotions can be through unpleasant events,
they aren’t dysfunctional, so increase the number of pleasurable events can
counteract this.
Increasing Mindfulness to Current Emotions
Experience emotions without judging them, trying to inhibit
them or distract oneself from them. This
reduces the secondary effect of emotions.
Taking Opposite Action
Change the behavioural expression of an emotion to change
the emotion. The idea is not to block an emotion but express another
Applying distress tolerance techniques
Learn through increasing the amount you can tolerate
Treatment
Goals of Emotional regulation training
1.
Understand emotions
a.
Observe and describe
b.
Understand what they do for you
2.
Reduce emotional vulnerability
a.
Decrease negative vulnerability
b.
Increase positive emotions
3.
Decrease emotional suffering
a.
Let go of painful emotions through mindfulness
b.
Change painful emotions through the opposite
action
Understanding emotions
Observe and describe
1.
Emotions are reactions to events external or
internal
2.
Purpose of emotions
a.
to guide and motivate you,
b.
to communicate with others
3.
What do emotions mean to you, when are they
useful when not so?
4.
Theory of emotions
a.
There are probably 8 basic emotions
i.
Joy
ii.
Anger
iii.
Disgust
iv.
Fear
v.
Sorrow
vi.
Surprise
vii.
Guilt\shame
viii.
Interest
b.
Emotions come and go, like waves
c.
Emotions are complex
d.
Emotions can be self-perpetuating which results
in a mood
Prompting event
1.
Some events can almost automatically prompt an
emotion, e.g. looking down a cliff
2.
Most events need an interpretation to produce an
emotion
What is an emotion?
1.
They are complex and include
a.
Body changes
i.
Chemicals in body=e.g. adrenaline
ii.
Feeling
b.
Mental affects: activation of certain types of
thoughts
c.
Behavioural affects: action urges, actions
d.
How you remember, imagine, and perceive
2.
Is it controllable
For emotions to communicate to ourselves or others they need
to be expressed.
Emotional expression
Varies in different cultures but includes
1.
Body language
2.
Words
3.
Actions
HW: Do the recognising, describing and naming of emotions
sheet
What do they do for you
What good is an emotion?
1.
Motivates us to action
a.
Means we act quicker and don’t have to think.
Feeling guilt stops us doing bad things, shame stops us doing stupid things, and
anxiety takes away from dangerous things.
2.
Communicates to others, whether we want to or
not
a.
I’m sad I need comfort
b.
I’m angry you’ve done something wrong
c.
I’m joyful, I like what you’re doing.
3.
Communicates to ourselves
a.
Leads me towards what I want and away from what
I don’t.
Can emotions be wrong, do they always tell the truth?
Reducing emotional vulnerability
Decrease negative vulnerability
1.
Treat physical illness
a.
Being sick reduces your resistance to negative
emotions
2.
Balanced eating
3.
Avoid mood altering drugs
4.
Balanced sleep
a.
Not too much not too little
5.
Get exercise
a.
This is an anti-depressant and it builds mastery
6.
Build mastery
a.
Do things to increase self-confidence, control.
Do things that are a little challenging, so that you can overcome them
Increase positive emotions
1.
Short term
a.
What events can promote the “positive” emotions?
Do pleasant things that are possible now, increase daily positive experiences?
2.
Long term
a.
Make changes in your life so positive events
will occur more often.
3.
Attend to relationship, repair old make new
4.
Avoid avoiding: you can’t build up positive
experiences if you don’t do things that are necessary
Decrease emotional suffering
Mindfulness of emotions
Observing them as they are, gives you distance to work out
what to do, and reduces secondary emotions.
Observing also exposes so increases tolerance and you will
be less afraid of them
The best way to get rid of unpleasant emotions is to let
them go, which is very different for getting rid of them, ignoring them.
Accepting unpleasant emotions leaves the pain but reduces
the suffering
To do this, notice your emotion, acknowledge it, and step
back from it. Experience it as a wave coming and going. You might concentrate on just the physical
parts.
Note that you are not your emotion.
Acting the opposite to the current emotion
Fear wants to avoid so approach
Guilt wants to retreat so advance
Sadness wants to hide so get active
Anger wants to attack to sympathise
Anxiety wants to avoid so approach
The aim here is to act in the opposite way to the way your
emotion wants you to act. Its not putting on a mask or pretending. If you act
differently your emotion will change. Of course this only works when the
emotion is not realistic.
