Emotional Regulation

Contents
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.