The Development of Emotion Regulation and Dysregulation: A Clinical Perspective

Abstract

Clinical conceptualizations of emotion that stress its disruptive influences and functional models of emotion that emphasize its adaptive aspects can be integrated into a developmental psychopathology framework. Under certain conditions, emotion regulation may develop dysregulatory aspects that can become a characteristic of an individual's coping style. This style may then jeopardize or impair functioning and become associated with symptomatic, disordered functioning. Emotional development provides a critical vantage point from which to study the development of symptomatology and psychopathology, particularly given the prevalence of emotional symptoms in various forms of psychopathology. Dimensions of emotionality that can be used to characterize dysregulation include access to the range of emotions, flexible modulation of intensity, duration, and transitions between emotions, acquisition and use of cultural display rules, and the ability to reflect on the complexity and value of one's own emotions in a self-supporting manner. Developmental psychopathology provides a framework within which to examine how emotions are regulatory, how their regulation changes over time, and under what conditions an adaptive emotion process can develop into a pattern of dysregulation that then becomes, or sustains, some symptoms of mental disorders. Such research requires samples that include children with and without risk or presence of particular mental health problems, paradigms that allow the examination of dimensions of emotionality in context and provide multiple assessments that include observations of children's reactions beyond what they themselves can report, and analyses that extend beyond simple global aggregates such as positive and negative emotion. We believe that it is particularly important to study children and their families in situations that challenge their emotional adaptation. The developmental tasks of emotional life evolve in exchanges between the child and the world of events and relationships. The emotional conditions of early childhood appear to be very important in optimizing or interfering with how the child's emotionality regulates his or her interpersonal and intrapsychic functioning and how the child learns to regulate emotion. The experiences that accrue around emotional events influence the stable aspects of the developing personality and become trait-like aspects of the person (Malatesta & Wilson, 1988). Dysregulation occurs when an emotional reaction loses breadth and flexibility. If a dysregulatory pattern becomes stabilized and part of the emotional repertoire, it is likely that this pattern is a symptom and supports other symptoms. When development and adaptation are compromised, the dysregulation has evolved into a form of psychopathology. The line between normative variations and clinical conditions is not clearly drawn.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

An examination of the self-referent executive processing model of test anxiety: control, emotional regulation, self-handicapping, and examination performance

“…Emotional regulation refers to one's ability to access, monitor, and control (reduce or increase) emotional reactions (Gross and Thompson 2007;Thompson 1994). This can include reducing as well as sustaining the intensity and durations of emotions (Calkins and Hill 2007;Cole et al 1994). Gross' (1998) model of emotional regulation proposes two processes: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression.…”

Effects of a Transactional Analysis Program on Adolescents’ Emotion Regulation

“…It is in line with the findings of Van Rijn and Wild (2016) and Widdowson (2012). Dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies reject or block emotional experiences and is considered as a risk factor associated with anxiety and depression (Cole, Michel, & Teti, 1994). Aldao et al (2007) also pointed out that dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies lead to a high emotional risk.…”

“…Functional emotion regulation is the ability to identify specific emotions and select the relevant strategy to regulate them (Eastbrook, 2013). Dysfunctional emotion regulation includes the strategies that reject or block emotional experiences and is recognized as a risk factor associated with emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression (Cole, Michel, & Teti, 1994). Absence of functional strategies and also presence of dysfunctional strategies put individuals in a high emotional risk (Aldao, Jazaieri, Goldin, & Gross, 2014;Phillips & Power, 2007).…”

O processo da autorregulação no desenvolvimento de crianças

“…Por outro lado, estratégias parentais coercitivas mostraram associações com agressividade nas crianças com alta ou moderada busca por sensações, mas não nas crianças com baixa busca por sensações (Xu, Farver, & Zhang, 2009 (Stevenson & Crnic, 2013). A regulação foi avaliada por meio das reações comportamentais das crianças, incluindo duração, intensidade, frequência e labilidade, frente às demandas da realização de uma tarefa, no caso uma montagem de quebra-cabeça (Cole, Michel, & Teti, 1994). A intrusividade do pai, independentemente da intrusividade materna e dos problemas de comportamento da criança, relacionaram-se diretamente com poucas habilidades sociais das crianças, mediada pelo seu próprio comportamento com pouca regulação.…”