EMOTION REGULATION The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Emotion Regulation We use this skill to regulate emotions and to reduce our vulnerability to negative emotions The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Goals of Emotion Regulation Training Understand your Emotions that you Experience Identify (observe & describe) emotions Understand what emotions do for you Reduce Emotional Vulnerability Decrease negative vulnerability (vulnerability to the emotional mind) Increase positive emotions Decrease Emotional Suffering Let go of painful emotions through mindfulness Change painful emotions through opposite action The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center Slowinski & Welk-Richards

UNDERSTAND YOUR EMOTIONS THAT YOU EXPERIENCE The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Getting to Know Your Emotions Determine what is happening in the environment Identify and describe your emotions and feelings Be grounded in your body. Notice how you experience your emotions physically Pay attention to your thoughts Evaluate you behavior. Figure out how emotions and feelings influence behavior. Is your behavior effective? Think about potential aftermath

Getting to Know Your Emotions Emotion words to describe: Love- Joy- Anger- Sadness- Fear- Shame- Guilt- Etc. Prompting Events of Feeling Interpretations that Prompts Feelings of _____ Experiencing the Emotion of_______________ Thoughts about the emotion of ____________ Expressing and Acting on ____ Aftereffects of ___________ Love= Love, adoration, affection, attraction, caring, charmed, etc. The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center Slowinski & Welk-Richards

What good are Emotions? Emotions communicate to (and influence) others Emotions organize and motivate action Emotions can be self-validating The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Emotions Communicate to, and Influence others… Facial expressions are a hard-wired part of emotions. “Facial expressions communicate faster than words.” When it is important to us to communicate to others, or send them a message, it can be very hard for us to change our emotions. Whether we intend it or not, the communication of emotions influence others. The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Emotions Organize and Motivate Action Emotions motivate our behavior. The action urge connected to specific emotions is often “hard- wired.” Emotions prepare us for action. Emotions save time in getting us to act in important situations. We don’t have to think everything through; our emotions do some of that work for us. Strong emotions help us to overcome obstacles- in our mind and in our environment The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Emotions can be Self-Validating Our emotional reactions to other people and to events can give us information about the situation. Emotions can be signals or alarms that something is happening When this is carried to an extreme, emotions are treated as facts: “I feel incompetent, therefore I am incompetent.” (Core Beliefs) “If I get depressed when I am left alone, then I should never be left alone.” “I love him, therefore he is the one.” The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

REDUCING EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Decreasing Negative Emotions PLEASE MASTER Treat PhysicaL illness Balanced Eating Abstinence Balance Sleep Balance Exercise Build MASTERy SELF-CARE 101 The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Increasing Positive Experiences Build Positive Experiences Be Mindful of Positive Experiences Be Unmindful of Worries The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Build Positive Experiences Short Term: INCREASE pleasant events that prompt positive emotions Do ONE healthy thing each day that brings you joy Long Term: Work toward goals: ACCUMULATE POSITIVES ATTEND TO RELATIONSHIPS AVOID AVOIDING. Avoid giving up! The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

What are some healthy activities that bring you pleasure? “Coping Skills” OR “Distracting Techniques” Yoga Walk the dog Exercise Play a musical instrument Listen to music Manicure/pedicure Talk to someone Take a drive Go to a coffee shop Meditation The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Be Mindful of Positive Experiences FOCUS attention on positive events that happen REFOCUS when your mind wanders to the negative The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Be Unmindful of Worries DISTRACT from: Thinking about when the positive experience will end Thinking about whether you DESERVE this positive experience Thinking about how much more might be EXPECTED of you now The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

LETTING GO OF EMOTIONAL SUFFERING The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Being Mindful of your Current Emotion Observe your Emotion Note its presence Step Back! Get UNSTUCK from the emotion Experience your Emotion (next slide) Remember: “You are not your Emotion!!!” Do not necessarily ACT on your emotion Remember times when you have felt different Practice Loving your Emotion Don’t JUDGE your emotion Practice WILLINGNESS “Radically Accept” your Emotion The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Being Mindful of your Current Emotion (continued) Experience your Emotion As a WAVE, coming and going Try not to BLOCK emotion Try not to SUPPRESS emotion Don’t try to get rid of emotion. Don’t PUSH it away Don’t try to keep an emotion around Don’t HOLD ON to it Don’t amplify it The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center

Ride the Wave Our emotions and impulses are always with us; they come and they go, similar to an ocean wave. Use Emotion Regulation Skills to “harness the energy of your emotions, ‘to ride the wave’” (Moonshine) Just like a wave, our emotions will always peak and will ALWAYS break and come down. Sometimes we have to practice mindfulness and wait for the emotion (wave) to crest and come down.

Changing Emotions by Acting Opposite to Current Emotion FEAR Do what you are afraid to do. Approach places/tasks that you are afraid of. Do one thing that gives you a sense of control or mastery. GUILT or SHAME Identify the difference of TRUE guilt and FALSE guilt. TRUE GUILT Repair  Commit  Accept  Let it go FALSE GUILT Repeat it over and over. APPROACH don’t avoid. SADNESS Get Active. Approach don’t avoid. Do things that make you feel competent and self-confident ANGER Gently avoid person you are angry with rather than attack Do something nice rather than mean or attacking Imagine sympathy and empathy for other persons rather than blaming Seinfeld clip The Child, Adolescent & Family Recovery Center Slowinski & Welk-Richards

Every emotion has an action Opposite Action Every emotion has an action EMOTION ACTION

Love Dandelions “Obsessing about getting rid of all dandelions can significantly lower your quality of life” Dandelions are traits, habits, or behaviors that are problematic but cannot be completely eliminated. Addiction Anger Unhealthy relationship with food Anxiety One can be in recovery and also will need to work on a daily basis to not return to these risky behaviors.