Living in Emotion | The Power of Feeling

How can understanding and experiencing emotion help you heal from anxiety, depression, and even PTSD? Naming your emotions, feeling those feelings – comfortable and uncomfortable – reflecting on your emotions, and creating meaning from your emotional experiences can all help combat experiences of anxiety, depression, panic, and the overwhelming emotion associated with healing from traumatic experiences.

So often I hear client come in asking for tools to “manage” their anxiety, depression, stress, or emotion. These are therapy buzzwords and in theory can be very helpful – but when clients come in asking for tools, they are often asking me for tools to make their emotions go away. I completely understand why they are wanting their uncomfortable emotions to go away, emotions can be scary and foreign, especially when we don’t understand them. As Dan Siegel says “you’ve got to be able to name it to tame it” This is especially true when it comes to emotion.

Many times we think we need to control our emotions in order to conquer our anxiety or depression and unfortunately, trying to control our emotion often feeds anxiety and depression. Instead, being able to experience and tolerate a full range of emotion – meaning the good, the bad, and the ugly – is linked to overcoming stress, anxiety, and depression. So how can you start a new relationship with emotion?

  1. Increase your emotional vocabulary: Many people can only name a handful of emotions (mad, sad, happy) when in reality there are hundreds of words to describe the complexity of emotion.
  2. Increase your awareness of your emotion in the moment: This is easier said than done but once you have the vocabulary try and name the emotions as they come.
  3. Locate your physical response to emotions: Sometimes thinking cognitively about emotion is difficult and it is easier to involve your body in this process.
  4. Reflect on your emotional experience: Journaling, talking with a friend, or talking to a therapist can be helpful to unpack your experience.
  5. Create meaning: Again, journaling, talking with a friend, or talking with a therapist can help you to gain new insight into your emotional experiences, learn, and grow from them.

If this list seems intimidating, do not fear! Emotion is tough and mysterious, especially when you have grown up in a home or culture (ahem midwest) where we avoid emotion or are not taught how to live with emotion. This list can be challenging to conquer on your own but can be a great option to tackle with the help of a therapist. If you are ready to redefine your relationship with emotion, we can help. Call us at 651-212-4920 or schedule online to start your journey towards healing from anxiety, PTSD, or depression.

Written By Katie Claus, MA LAMFT

References

Greenberg, Leslie (2002). Emotion-focused Therapy: Coaching Clients to Work Through Their Feelings.

Photo Source: Demeter Attila