HANDLING EMOTIONS

Theories about emotions reach back at least to the time of the ancient Greek philosophers; and, still there is no simple explanation of an emotion.  However, it is considered a complex psycho physiological experience of an individual’s state of mind involving the interaction of one’s biochemical (internal) and environmental (external) influences.  Given this explanation, we can readily see what a challenge it is for us to maintain a healthy outlook in life.  After all, we do have happy or unhappy situations that provide us with strong feelings--emotions.

    In 1884, William James, a psychologist, presented the theory that a changed situation leads to a changed bodily state.   He said, “The perception of bodily changes, as they occur, IS the emotion.”  He further stated that “we feel sad because we cry, angry because we strike, and tremble because we fear.”  He even did experiments by manipulating the body state and a desired emotion was induced.
    The field of neuroscience (the study of the nervous system) has emerged in the 21^st century where psychology has made advances in helping to understand the mind body relationship entailing emotions.  Dr. Richard J. Davidson, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a pioneer in brain research for more than thirty years.  In his recent book, The Emotional Life of Your Brain, Penguin Books, 2012, he introduces Emotional Styles for helping us learn how to deal with our emotions.
    Richardson claims that each person has unique emotional styles, which consist of six distinct components: Resilience, Outlook, Self-Awareness, Social Intuition, Attention and Sensitivity to Context.  We utilize each of these components depending upon how we react to the experiences we have in our life.   Some people have the ability to recover rapidly from negative emotions while others may linger in a sad or depressed mood.   Some people may experience joyful feelings that are fleeting or hold on to them for longer periods.
    What makes his research interesting is that he has, through brain imaging, been able to show that there is an interrelation between the pre-frontal cortex ( mainly the center of higher order cognitive thinking and the amygdala ( part of the limbic system that plays an important role in negative emotions of distress, feeling anxious or threatened ).  He discovered that the more connections between these two sections of the brain the
better we are able to manage our emotions.   Fewer connections make it more difficult for one to recover rapidly, thus people linger longer in the negative emotion.  Formerly, neuroscientists considered emotions mainly associated with the amygdala.
    His eye blinking experiments with subjects revealed that people with greater activation on the left side of the prefrontal cortex recovered much more quickly from the strongest feelings of disgust, anger and fear elicited from stimulating images.
    Psychologists offer ways for regulating emotions.  For it is now known that the brain has neuroplasticity, the ability to change its structure and function.  A “mere” thought can change the brain’s function.

Some suggestions for controlling emotions

1.    Find out what triggers the emotion.

2.    Be mindful of your inner emotions at the moment.
3.    Describe what you are feeling in a non-judgmental way.
4.    Practice responding to emotions in new and constructive ways.

 We can learn to handle our emotions.