The Process of Emotional Regulation

Abstract

Emotional regulation is a developmental skill that everyone must learn. It is the ability for you to tune into, make sense of and control your own strong feelings. It affectively influences how well you can adapt to situations and events in your life, as well as how you navigate and adapt to the world. A lack of healthy emotional regulation can lead one to become dysregulated. Two important phenomenon underpin our ability to regulate: emotional complexity and splitting. The more acknowledgment and understanding that we give to our emotions (not just the thoughts in our mind but the feelings in our better), the more control and problem solving skills we can harness to sustain a good standard of personal well-being.

Ability of Emotional Regulation and Control as a Stress Predictor in Healthcare Professionals

“…Emotional regulation is defined as a set of processes by which a person tries to influence what emotions they will experience and express, at what time and in what way [5,7]. It enables a person to adjust the expression of their own emotions to the demands of the environment, as well as to protect, restrain and direct unpleasant emotions to avoid interference with personal functioning [8].…”

“…According to Pennebaker [5], the inhibition of emotions is potentially unhealthy because it serves as a cumulative stress stimulus and prevents cognitive-affective assimilation processes. Not assimilated stressful events remain in the person's consciousness as unwanted and repetitive (ruminating) thoughts.…”

“…Not assimilated stressful events remain in the person's consciousness as unwanted and repetitive (ruminating) thoughts. According to the Zeigarnik effect, people tend to remember unfinished tasks [5], hence unassimilated stressful events are more likely to remain in consciousness and provoke such thoughts. Studies also confirm that ruminating about stressful events leads to negative emotions and cognitive and behavioral avoidance of the cause of stressful episodes [5].…”

“…On the other hand, exposure to public criticism and lawsuits and the impact of shift work are more stressful for men [2]. Additionally, there is a growing number of studies that confirm the fact that workplace stressors have an impact on the ability of emotional regulation and control in healthcare professionals [1,[4][5][6].…”

No, Languishing is not the ‘Middle Child’ of Mental Health

“…It is indeed important that we are able to understand and name our feelings. It can then help us manage our emotions, and achieve long-term well-being (Madden et al, 2021). The revelation of Languishing thus came as a relief to many of us.…”