Emotional regulation is the process that allows you to feel and manage emotions ‘at the moment. It’s the ability to control the intensity, duration and frequency of your feelings and how you express them. This can be a very useful skill when you’re trying to cope with stress or negative emotions. In this blog, we take a closer look at what emotional regulation is and explore how a health psychologist can help.
What does emotional regulation mean?
Emotional regulation is the ability to take action to alter your emotions. It includes influencing which emotions you want to express and which emotions you’d prefer not to display. Emotional regulation is often used to manage stress and other negative feelings. It can help people cope with difficult situations, mainly where those situations have caused them distress and/or caused them to feel angry or upset.
Emotional regulation skills
To regulate your emotions in a healthy way, try taking a breath before reacting. Pause for just one second and try and notice how you’re feeling. Do you feel angry? Sad? Excited? Accepting the emotion is critical here. Notice how this emotion makes you feel and how you want to react to it initially.
Reflection is an essential skill when you start regulating your emotions. Practising mindfulness is also a great way to learn how to regulate emotions. Meditation as part of mindfulness can help you to learn how to accept and let different emotions pass while they arise as you meditate.
How a health psychologist can help
Health psychologists are experts at helping people learn emotional regulation skills. They can suggest strategies and tools to help you manage your emotions in a healthy way, so that you can focus on the things that matter most to you.
