What Is Emotional Regulation
The ability to monitor, evaluate, and modify emotional reactions
What's emotional regulation?
These can be environmental, interpersonal, sensory, or cognitive.
What are emotional triggers?
Tight chest, racing heart, hot face are examples of this.
Physical cues of the “lizard brain”
A breathing strategy to calm the nervous system.
Deep breathing
This means pushing feelings down.
Suppression
Two benefits of emotional regulation.
Improves relationships, supports mental health, helps decision-making, enhances productivity
Name one common body state that can trigger dysregulation.
Hunger, fatigue, or overthinking
Name the survival brain state.
Lizard brain
Exercise that helps you notice the present moment
Grounding exercises
Reacting bigger than the situation
Overreacting
We regulate emotions to do this, not to suppress them.
To understand and work with them
Triggers are often connected to these from the past.
Unprocessed feelings or inner-child needs
The calm, thinking part of the brain.
Wizard brain
Setting limits to protect your feelings.
Setting boundaries
Escaping feelings through substances or screens.
Unhealthy distraction
Part of the brain responsible for decision-making.
What is the prefrontal cortex?
Two mental health conditions that can increase triggers.
Anxiety, PTSD, or depression
First step to activate the wizard brain
Pause & breathe
Treating yourself kindly in hard moments
Self-compassion
Goal of regulation is balance, not this.
Eliminating emotions
Brain part connected to emotional reactions.
What is the amygdala?
Triggers spark this type of reaction
Sudden, intense negative reactions
Saying “I feel overwhelmed” is called this
Naming the emotion
Short phrase to calm yourself.
Using a mantra
Class rule about differences in reactions
Different feelings → different reactions → same respect