Emotional regulation refers to the capability of an individual to react to existing internal experience in a friendly way. Reactivity in people is composed of feelings, traits, and biological responses which occur inside the body. Some psychiatric syndromes are associated with various forms of emotional sensitivity and emotional regulation. Emotion control varies from one person to another depending on his or her psychopathology patterns.
It is fundamental to consider emotion and emotion regulation in research on psychopathology so that psychologists can comprehend analytical factors that cause trauma (Kneeland, Dovidio, Joormann, " Clark, 2016). Also, scientists consider the emotions of individuals while carrying out maladaptive therapies so that they can control undesirable effects which are caused by depression or angst among mentally challenged persons (Kneeland et al., 2016). There are techniques, such as the expressive suppression and mental re-evaluation which are used to regulate feelings in individuals. The two strategies are used to reduce psychological dysfunction which might otherwise lead to madness or even death.
Although the expressive suppression model can be used to reduce depraved feelings in people, the strategy is associated with adverse effects on patients. Patients can develop long-term effects like memory lapse and hallucinations if the psychoanalysis is applied well. Furthermore, the therapy is characterized by increased adverse emotional levels, undesirable moods, and low self-esteem (Tamir, 2016). Certainly, people engage in little interaction with others due to high depression. Moreover, scientists have proved that patients who undergo this incident are likely to develop a low lifespan.
The medics mostly prefer the cognitive reappraisal methodology of controlling feelings because it acts positively on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder patients. The therapy is characterized by reduced adverse emotion encounter, significant positive emotion level, improved moods, and increased self-esteem among individuals (Tamir, 2016). The reappraisal experience has found that people who have many signs of depression recorded a reduced trait-reappraisal compared to those who had less depressive symptoms. The high level of character reappraisal is linked with fewer PTSD signs in individuals (Kneeland et al., 2016). Therefore, the concept of reassessment is adaptive, and psychologists can apply it in solving mental associated complications.
It is also vital to consider emotion and emotion regulation in research regarding the psychopathology because it creates responsiveness about the essentials of clinical interventions. Medical practitioners often come up with the response which talks about the areas of change in human beings’ feelings (Tamir, 2016). The intervention outlines the processes that medical practitioners are supposed to follow while dealing with psychologically challenged people. Furthermore, it is essential for medics to consider an aspect of emotion and emotion regulation in research while carrying out studies on mental distress so that the item that is needed to be researched on is identified easily (Kneeland et al., 2016). The purpose of the evaluation process is also outlined for other persons interested in the intervention (Kneeland et al., 2016). All in all, people are sensitized concerning the setting in which the process of emotion regulation would be accomplished.
Examples of psychological disorders include schizophrenia, which is a mental malfunction that occurs in divisions, such as the paranoid, disorganized, and catatonic status. The most common type of schizophrenia is delusions which occur for more than one month in stressed persons. The second one is anxiety disorder that leads to the damage of psychological shock in humans. There are also personality disorders which are sometimes acquired by the family (Tamir, 2016). Personality syndromes are often dormant, but they lead to mental impairment among people. Examples of personality malfunction include; schizoid, antisocial, borderline, histrionic illness, narcissism, and obsessive-compulsive malady.
Furthermore, there are eating disorders which involve anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. These disorders make one lose the craving for diet for a particular period. Moreover, the person loses much weight due to either little or no consumption of food. During this moment, someone experiences much depression, vomiting, and purging (Kneeland et al., 2016). Moreover, people tend to have little interactions with others due to the situation of mental distress that they experience.
Some psychologists have identified other forms of psychological maladies like the neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly in children. Those disorders include intellectual problems which are also called retardation complications. The issue is most common in teenagers who fail to perform critical duties on their own (Tamir, 2016). Moreover, the elderly have as well experienced this pandemic particularly those who are at the age of seventy and beyond. The neurodevelopmental issues are also characterized by the speech disorders (Kneeland et al., 2016). For instance, the DSM-5 has recognized four different sub-types of the communication disorder as language malfunction, speech sound disorder, shuttering, and practical problems.
In conclusion, the incidence of emotion control is associated with psychological well-being among individuals. A maladaptive method of regulating emotions has been recognized as a primary source of psychological health dysfunction. Although reappraisal and suppression therapies are used by medical practitioners as strategies to regulate mental disorders, the two methods must be used carefully to avoid causing more harm to people.
Emotion regulatory strategies such as higher expressive suppression and lower cognitive reappraisal may be associated with increased psychopathology (Gross " John, 2003). It is unclear whether these strategies represent distinct cognitive styles associated with psychopathology, such that there are individuals who are predominantly "suppressors" or "reappraisers." Using cluster analysis, we examined whether women with and without exposure to potentially traumatic events evidence distinct patterns of emotion regulation frequency, capacity, suppression, and cognitive reappraisal. Four patterns emerged: high regulators; high reappraisers/low suppressors; moderate reappraisers/low suppressors; and low regulators. Individuals who reported infrequently and ineffectively regulating their emotions (low regulators) also reported higher depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In contrast, individuals who reported frequently and effectively using reappraisal and low levels of suppression (high reappraisers/low suppressors) reported the lowest levels of these symptoms, suggesting that this specific combination of emotion regulation may be most adaptive. Our findings highlight that the capacity to regulate emotions and the ability to apply different strategies based on the context and timing flexibly may be associated with reduced psychopathology and more adaptive functioning.
Keywords: emotion regulation, suppression, reappraisal, PTSD, psychopathology
References
Kneeland, E. T., Dovidio, J. F., Joormann, J., " Clark, M. S. (2016). Emotion malleability beliefs, emotion regulation, and psychopathology: Integrating affective and clinical science. Clinical psychology review, 45, 81-88.
Tamir, M. (2016). Why do people regulate their emotions? A taxonomy of motives in emotion regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20(3), 199-222.
