What is emotional regulation?
Introduction
Emotional regulation is the process that describes emotions. Our emotions are influenced by both internal and external factors involving interactions between cognitive, behavioral, and physiological elements that determine how our emotions affect our body and mind. Therapy can help develop an understanding of how these elements affect one's mind and body and how to manage them effectively.
Our Neurobiological Drive Systems
Emotional regulation begins with our brain’s neurological systems. How we regulate our emotions starts with our driving systems. Drive systems describe the neurobiological processes that move us towards rewards and away from threats. Our drive systems are initiated by hormones released in the brain, which influence our emotional responses and behaviors. Understanding the forces of our drive systems is crucial in developing ways to manage these systems in healthy ways.
The reward system manages our experience of pleasure, which primarily occurs in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. This system is triggered by rewarding stimuli such as food and sex, which motivate us to seek them out. For this reason, food and sex are enjoyable and create intense cravings or desire. The reward system, fueled by dopamine, reinforces these behaviors, so we want to do them, increasing our health and survival.
In contrast, the threat system is managed in the brain by the amygdala. This region is responsible for detecting and responding to threats and dangers in our environment. Our threat system initiates our stress response, leading to the experience of negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, or anger.
Emotional regulation describes our brains’ drive systems that manage our experience of rewards and threats. These systems are designed to keep us safe and create balance in our emotional experience. Therapy aimed at emotional regulation teaches you about how the drive systems show up and affect you personally.
Issues with how these neurobiological systems function will often create mental health issues such as depression, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse. Therapy can help you understand the challenges within your body system and how to treat mental illness. Emotional regulation is crucial to maintain our mental health and well-being.
Body Scans and Integrating Mindfulness
Improving emotional regulation means developing awareness of how emotions are experienced physically in your body. Techniques such as body scanning, also called emotional body mapping, can be an important tool for learning where stress occurs within your body. Body scanning is taught and practiced in therapy. Body scans bring attention to your bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions.
Research suggests that the brain region involved in self-awareness, the insular cortex, plays an essential role in processing our body’s signals of our emotional experiences. Paying attention to physical cues develops a greater understanding of your emotional state. During therapy, you will learn regulation strategies to adapt and manage your emotions.
Emotional body scanning creates emotional understanding. The goal is to be able to differentiate between your emotional states by how they present physically. Our physical symptoms show up before we can perceive emotions. If we learn to become intentional about picking up how emotions affect us physically, we will develop a higher emotional understanding, leading to greater psychological resilience. Therapy teaches coping skills using tools that influence our drive systems and lead to finding balance and positive mental and physical health.
Self-Soothing and Self-Compassion Systems
In addition to neurobiological processes, emotional regulation involves actions that promote self-soothing and self-compassion. Self-soothing systems describe a wide range of mental, behavioral, and interpersonal strategies for managing and regulating emotions effectively.
Self-soothing techniques, such as relaxation exercises, deep breathing, guided meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, and engaging in pleasant activities, promote calmness and relaxation. Practicing self-soothing activates our parasympathetic nervous system, facilitating our body’s relaxation response. Self-soothing is crucial to stress reduction and emotional regulation.
Self-compassion involves extending kindness, understanding, and acceptance towards yourself during challenging times of distress. Self-compassion cultivates a sense of inner peace and improves self-worth. These practices increase our emotional resilience and enable us to face difficult times and move through them in healthy ways. People who practice self-compassion demonstrate greater emotional regulation, which creates positive mental health.
Mental health therapy designed to improve emotional regulation will focus on developing techniques for self-soothing and improving self-compassion and self-esteem.
Conclusion
Emotional regulation has both neurobiological and psychological dimensions. Therapy facilitates learning how emotional regulation affects you mentally and physically. Within therapy, we develop targeted interventions to increase emotional stability using a holistic, mind-body approach. By fostering greater awareness, acceptance, and adaptive coping skills, you can learn to navigate the challenges and transitions in your life with greater strength, control over your emotions, and a sense of peace.
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