[3][4][5] Emotion regulation is a complex process that involves initiating, inhibiting, or modulating one's state or behavior in a given situation — for example, the subjective experience (feelings), cognitive responses (thoughts), emotion-related physiological responses (for example heart rate or hormonal activity), and emotion-related behavior (bodily actions or expressions).
Functionally, emotion regulation can also refer to processes such as the tendency to focus one's attention to a task and the ability to suppress inappropriate behavior under instruction.
[8] Individuals who are emotionally dysregulated exhibit patterns of responding in which there is a mismatch between their goals, responses, and/or modes of expression, and the demands of the social environment.
[9] For example, there is a significant association between emotion dysregulation and symptoms of depression, anxiety, eating pathology, and substance abuse.
[14] Younger and older adults seem to also regulate their emotions through situation modification in differing ways that reflects what type of material they consume ranging from negative, neutral, and positive.
[22] Examples of situation modification may include injecting humor into a speech to elicit laughter[23] or extending the physical distance between oneself and another person.
[29] As opposed to reappraisal, individuals show a relative preference to engage in distraction when facing stimuli of high negative emotional intensity.
It has been shown to effectively reduce facial expressivity, subjective feelings of positive emotion, heart rate, and sympathetic activation.
[48] Research has also shown that expressive suppression may have negative social consequences, correlating with reduced personal connections and greater difficulties forming relationships.
[54] On the flip side, sleep deprivation is associated with greater emotional reactivity or overreaction to negative and stressful stimuli.
[60][61] For example, a relevant mnemonic formulated in DBT is "ABC PLEASE":[62] Intrinsic emotion regulation efforts during infancy are believed to be guided primarily by innate physiological response systems.
[67] At one year, infants are able to navigate their surroundings more actively and respond to emotional stimuli with greater flexibility due to improved motor skills.
In addition to proven facilitation of social bonding, when combined with movement and/or rhythmic touch, maternal singing for affect regulation has possible applications for infants in the NICU and for adult caregivers with serious personality or adjustment difficulties.
[72] Additionally, maturation of brain functioning and language and motor skills permits toddlers to manage their emotional responses and levels of arousal more effectively.
[79] During childhood, there is also a trend towards the use of more cognitive emotion regulation strategies, taking the place of more basic distraction, approach, and avoidance tactics.
[85] Additionally, spontaneous use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies increases during adolescence, which is evidenced both by self-report data[86] and neural markers.
[96] In addition to baseline levels of positive and negative affect, studies have found individual differences in the time-course of emotional responses to stimuli.
[98] Affective chronometry research has been conducted on clinical populations with anxiety, mood, and personality disorders, but is also utilized as a measurement to test the effectiveness of different therapeutic techniques (including mindfulness training) on emotional dysregulation.
An implication to these findings is that individual differences in prefrontal activation predict the ability to perform various tasks in aspects of emotion regulation.
[104] It can be argued that emotion regulation plays a key role in the ability to generate the correct responses in social situations.
Some theories allude to the thought that each emotion serves a specific purpose in coordinating organismic needs with environmental demands (Cole, 1994).
[110] Although the two concepts differ in a multitude of ways, "both coping [with stress] and emotion regulation involve affect modulation and appraisal processes" that are necessary for healthy relationships and self-identity.
V. Shcherbatykh, emotional stress in situations like school examinations can be reduced by engaging in self-regulating activities prior to the task being performed.
In the experimental group, participants engaged in three self-regulating techniques (concentration on respiration, general body relaxation, and the creation of a mental image of successfully passing the examination).
Following widespread adoption in the 21st century of digital devices and services for use in everyday life, evidence is mounting that people are increasingly using these tools to manage and regulate moods and emotions.
[116] A wide range of digital resources are used for emotion regulation including smartphones,[117] social media,[118] streaming services,[119] online shopping,[120] and videogames.
Such behaviors often elicit negative reactions from the social environment, which, in turn, can exacerbate or maintain the original regulation problems over time, a process termed cumulative continuity.
For example, OTs can work with students to engage in the occupational therapist-developed curriculum The Zones of Regulation,[130] which utilizes evidence-based knowledge, formal assessment, and in-classroom treatment to improve self-regulation of emotional behaviors and create long-lasting changes in habits.
Early childhood access to education on emotional regulation mitigates risk factors for increased anxiety, depression, and negative behaviors.
[129] Children should be able to learn to regulate their feelings for full participation in activities, including social skills, play, sports, and school.