Highlights of the post
- Seven basic emotions
- Need to integrate emotions with reasoning
- Adaptive functions of emotions
- Maladaptive emotionality and accessing mental health services
Emotions are an integral part of our life. We experience emotions every day. How do you
relate to your emotions? Do you listen to it or push it away? At times, do you feel you are at
the mercy of your emotions?
Ekman, et. al, (1969) identified six basic emotions which are both innate and universal: joy,
anger, disgust, surprise, fear and sadness. Research conducted later (Ekman & Friesen, 1986)
suggested a seventh universal emotion which is contempt. This is not an exhaustive list of
emotions we experience and express in our daily interactions. We also feel loved, humiliated,
confident, proud, jealous, touched, terrified and so on.
Would you like to take a minute to see if you can identify seven basic emotions from images
of facial expressions on the link below?
In this post, we will look at how to tune into our emotions and use it wisely in our life. We
will also discuss maladaptive emotionality and the need for accessing mental health services.
Emotions enable us to enjoy life, improve our relationships and protect ourselves from harm.
Well, one caveat: while emotions communicate our preferences, needs, goals, safety,
closeness etc., without reasoning, we can’t make wise choices in life. For e.g., our emotions
tell us that we like chocolates and sweets but our reasoning tells us to have it in moderation.
Sometimes maladaptive fear tells us that a person is untrustworthy when in fact he or she is
trustworthy.
Sometimes there is an oversimplified view that emotions are to be ignored and decisions are
to be made solely on the basis of reasoning or consideration of practical facts. This view
defies the architecture of the human brain. We have a mammalian brain (emotional brain or
limbic brain) that is in charge of emotional processing (e.g., understand likes, dislikes,
connect with others or turn away from others) and neocortex that is in charge of cognitive
processing (e.g., reasoning, problem-solving etc.). It is wise to integrate both kinds of
processing in decision-making. The same holds true when we try to make sense of the
interactions with people and events in life.
Having discussed how we are biologically hardwired to process emotions, let’s look at some
of the adaptive functions of emotions.
First, let’s understand the components of the emotion: 1. Emotion itself which we label as
joy, sadness, anger etc., 2. Physical sensations associated with the emotion (e.g., anger is
usually associated with muscle tension, increased heartbeat, grinding teeth etc.), 3. Thoughts
such as “People don’t care about my money/time” while angry, 4. Urges or impulses to say
or act a certain way or avoid something. Anger urges us to protect ourselves from unfairness.
Emotion awareness can be practiced by raising awareness of the four components of
emotions. Here are a few questions to start off your practice.
- “What is my emotion?”
- “What are my physical sensations as I feel this emotion?”
- “What are my thoughts”? (Thoughts can be expressed in verbal form)
- “What are my urges or impulses?”
Though it is healthy to act on the urges and impulses associated with an emotion, it is
sometimes unhealthy to do so. Anger, due to perceived or real unfairness at office, might urge
you to break a chair, but doing so without considering the consequences is unwise. Hence
take a moment to examine those urges or impulses and ask, ‘what would be the
consequence if I act on it?’
Secondly, emotions enable us to enjoy the colors of life. Who does not enjoy the warmth of
close relationships during festivals? While affection allows parent and child to bond with
each other, anger allows parents to set limits for children’s unhealthy behaviors.
Thirdly, emotions act as a compass in decision-making. How do we feel if we ignore interest
and curiosity in our career choices? Suppose choice of life partner is made based on practical
aspects (e.g., wealth) alone, would there be love, understanding and companionship between
the partners? Emotions tell us about our unique preferences. So, ignoring emotions may
deprive us of pleasant experiences in life.
Next, emotions signal to us to regulate our self and it signals to others to regulate their
behavior. When we feel stressed, it tells us to pause and rest. Paying attention to feelings lets
us make decisions that honor our life, physical and mental health. Smile on your face
communicates to others that you want to connect with them, whereas sadness tells others that
you want to be comforted.
Lastly, emotions communicate our needs, meaning and values. Feeling sad following busy
workdays on end may communicate that your need for fun and play is stifled. Frequent rude
remarks by a friend in front of others and the humiliation that follows may be interpreted as
unsafe relationship dynamics that need urgent intervention (meaning). A young lady feeling
distressed and frustrated about not getting married may indicate that marriage and family life
are important values for her.
Emotions can also become maladaptive in the sense that its intensity is too high, interrupting
it is difficult, its duration is too long and it affects day-to-day functioning. Imagine feeling
worthless, inadequate, sad, lonely, hopeless, suspicious of others or angry most of the time. In
this context, emotions disorganize us and act as an unhelpful guide. What if you had
overreacted to your spouse for ignoring you when you got back from office, and realized later
that she was sad at the loss of her friend! Generally, we overreact to situations that remind us
of hurtful or overwhelming interactions in the past. One way in which mental health
professionals can intervene here is by developing emotion awareness, healing painful
emotional memories and modifying emotional responses to current interpersonal interactions.
When emotions are maladaptive
and act as an unhelpful guide, it is
important to seek mental health
services.
To sum up, though emotions inform us of
our needs and add colors to our life, it can also be an unhelpful guide. Therefore, it is crucial
to be wise, emotion-wise. Emotions when integrated with reasoning gives us a more balanced
and unbiased understanding of situations and hence, better decision-making.
References
- Ekman, P., Sorenson, E. R., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). Pancultural elements in facial displays of emotions. Science, 164, 86–88.
- Ekman, P., & Friesen, W.V. (1986). A new pan-cultural facial expression of emotions. Motivation and emotion, 10, 159-168.
- Ogden, P., & Fisher, J. (2015). Sensorimotor psychotherapy: Interventions for trauma and attachment. (D. Del Hierro & A. Del Hierro, Illustrators). W W Norton & Co.
- Greenberg, L. S. (2002). Emotion-focused therapy: Coaching clients to work through their feelings. American Psychological Association
- Catella, S., & McKay, M. (2024). The emotional intelligence skills workbook: Improve communication and build stronger relationships. New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
