What are Emotional Regulation Skills?

The need for emotion regulation skills is universal. Individuals entering psychotherapy are often emotionally intense and unstable — frequently angry, intensely frustrated, depressed, sad, or anxious.

Difficulties in regulating painful emotions is often a central component of many different behavioral disorders. Many individuals try to regulate emotions by instructing themselves not to feel whatever it is that they feel or by other suppression techniques.

This over-simplistic style is rarely effective long-term and only sometimes effective short-term. Others regulate via dysfunctional behavioral styles which further increase the emotion regulation problems.

Instruction and coaching in emotion regulation skills is often necessary in psychotherapy no matter what the approach and no matter what the presenting problem.

The ability to regulate your emotions means to be able to choose thoughts, feelings and behaviours that are in your long-term-best-interest.