Overview: Understanding and Naming Emotions 

It is difficult for people to manage their emotions when they do not understand how emotions work. Knowledge is power. This lesson will orient you to the skills taught in this part of the module and the rationale for their importance.

The first segment of the emotion regulation module focuses on understanding and naming emotions: identifying the functions of emotions and their relationship to difficulties in changing emotions; understanding the nature of emotions by presenting a model of emotions; and learning how to identify
and label emotions in everyday life.

Understanding the Functions of Emotions

Emotional behavior is functional to the individual. Changing ineffective emotional behaviors can be extremely difficult when they are followed by reinforcing consequences; thus identifying the functions and reinforcers for particular emotional behaviors can be useful. Generally, emotions function to communicate to others and to motivate one’s own behavior. Emotional behaviors can also have two other important functions. The first, related to the communication function, is to influence and control other people’s behaviors. The second communication function is alerting oneself. In this latter case, emotions function like an alarm, alerting the person to pay attention to events that may be important. Identifying these functions of emotions, especially of unwanted emotions, is an important first step toward change.

Identifying Obstacles to Changing Emotions

Many factors can make it hard to change emotions, even when a person desperately wants to. Biological factors can increase emotion sensitivity, intensity, and time needed to return to emotional baseline. All of us—even those with sunny dispositions—at times have intense emotional reactions, however, and when this happens we need adequate skills to modulate our emotions. Inadequate skills can make this regulation very difficult. Emotion regulation is even more difficult when others in the environment are reinforcing dysfunctional emotions. This is particularly true when concurrent emotion overload, low motivation, or myths about emotions get in the way.

Identifying and Labeling Emotions

An important step in regulating emotions is learning to identify and label current emotions. Emotions, however, are complex behavioral responses. Their identification often requires the ability not only to observe one’s own responses, but also to describe accurately the context in which the emotion occurs. Thus learning to identify an emotional response is aided enormously if one can observe and describe:

(1) the event prompting the emotion

(2) the interpretations of the event that prompted the emotion

(3) the history prior to the prompting event that increases sensitivity to the event and vulnerability to responding emotionally

(4) the phenomenological experience, including the physical sensation, of the emotion

(5) the expressive behaviors associated with the emotion; and

(6) the aftereffects of the emotion on other types of functioning.

There are reasons why humans (and other mammals) have emotions. The purpose of regulating emotions is not to get rid of them. We need them for survival! There are three major functions of emotions:

1. To motivate action.
2. To communicate to others.
3. To communicate to ourselves.

Knowing what emotions do for us can help us figure out how to regulate them, and also how to appreciate them even when they are painful or difficult.

Regulating emotions is like regulating temperature. We want to be able to raise the intensity of emotions when needed (like making a room warmer), and to decrease the intensity of emotions when needed (like making a room cooler). Factors that can make it very difficult to get our emotions under control include these:

• Biology
• Lack of emotion regulation skills.
• Reinforcing consequences of emotional behaviors.
• Moodiness that makes the effort to manage emotions difficult.
• Emotional overload.
• Emotion myths.

Understanding each of these factors can be critical for troubleshooting emotions.

Emotions are complex, full-system responses. Changing any part of the system can change the entire response. Assure participants: “Once you know all the parts of the emotion system, you can decide where to try to change it first. By labelling an emotion, we can create distance between ourselves and our experience that allows us to choose how to respond to challenges.

Learning to observe, describe, and name your emotions can help you regulate your emotions. There is a ritual of pointing and calling that is used to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and decrease accidents. The practice is called “Shisa Kanko” in Japan, and the technique is used all around the world. Read more in this article

Back: Therapy Action Plan

Continue: Emotion Regulation Lesson 3

Copyright Disclaimer:

The content on this page was adapted from DBT® Skills Training Manual, Second Edition, by Marsha M. Linehan. Copyright 2015 by Marsha M. Linehan.

The handouts and worksheets are from From DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition, by Marsha M. Linehan. Copyright 2015 by Marsha M. Linehan. Permission to photocopy them is granted to purchasers of DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets, Second Edition, and DBT Skills Training Manual, Second Edition, for personal use and use with individual clients only.