Emotional Regulation Explained
Do you struggle with anxiety and frequently feel thrown back and forth by the waves of your emotions? Do you notice yourself reacting to situations rather than responding to them from your true self? These are experiences of a dysregulated nervous system.
What is Emotional Regulation?
Emotional regulation is the process of identifying an emotional experience, controlling your behavioral impulses, and responding to the emotional event in a way that is appropriate to the situation. In short, it is an experience of responding rather than reacting to a situation. Returning your body to a calm, regulated state after a stressful event is a key task of emotional regulation.
What Do Emotional Regulation and Dysregulation Feel Like?
An emotionally regulated person is able to calmly observe and think through frustrations and negative emotions as they arise. They are generally able to inhibit fear and regulate an emotional response. If something frustrating occurs, they are able to respond to it in a way that is comparable to the weight of the situation and then return to their calm, regulated state.
On the other hand, people who struggle to regulate their emotions due to a dysfunctional autonomic nervous system are highly reactive and experience inordinate amounts of distress mentally and physically in response to daily inconveniences or stressors. Have you ever found yourself in an argument with your partner and all of a sudden, one small word brings your anger from a level 1 to a level 10 within seconds? This is an experience of dysregulation.
The disturbed biorhythms associated with emotional dysregulation often contribute to a person’s muscle tension and inconsistent or poor sleep quality. Breathing exercises can contribute to restoring a person’s biorhythms and activating a person’s parasympathetic system so that they can achieve the homeostasis the body seeks. A lack of emotional regulation not only has negative effects on a person’s mental processes, but also contributes to a person’s vulnerability to physical illnesses and psychological health.
Emotional Regulation and the Brain
The autonomic nervous system, involving the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, plays an important role in regulating the body.
The sympathetic nervous system regulates arousal during stressful moments, while the parasympathetic system conserves energy during the body’s resting state.
A well-regulated person’s parasympathetic and sympathetic systems work together harmoniously. The lack of balance between these systems results in anxiety disorders, depression, and other psychiatric disorders.
The limbic system is the emotional center of the brain that involves expressing and regulating emotions by processing and responding to emotional stimuli. Included within the limbic system are the amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus. The amygdala contributes to arousal and emotional reactivity. Stimulation of the amygdala can result in behavioral responses such as rage, aggression, and fear. A hyperactive amygdala is common in anxiety disorders. In addition, dysfunction in the amygdala can cause impulse control disorders, depression, and borderline personality disorder. The hippocampus plays a role in encoding, forming, and storing emotional memories. The hypothalamus plays a role in alertness, maintaining homeostasis in the body, and controlling the autonomic and endocrine functions. Dysfunction in the hypothalamus can lead to depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders.
The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPA-axis) regulates the body’s reactions to stress and secretes chemicals necessary for cortisol production. Activity in hippocampus, amygdala, and the thalamus facilitates HPA-axis functionality. The HPA-axis is particularly activated in stress and PTSD. The basal ganglia coordinates motor movements and feelings and sets the body’s anxiety level . The basal ganglia surrounds the limbic system and has projections in the frontal lobe and limbic system, which contributes to its role in helping suppress unwanted behaviors.
The prefrontal system regulates neural activity in the limbic system’s hippocampus and amygdala. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has a role in self-regulation, planning, and problem solving. The orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex helps people make socially appropriate behaviors. The medial basal prefrontal cortex has to do with goal directed behaviors and emotional tone. Damage to this area results in apathy and flat affect.
What Impacts Emotional Regulation?
Environmental factors such as abuse/neglect, high levels of stress, and sleep, have a large impact on a person's ability to regulate their emotions.
Abuse/Neglect & PTSD
Many who have a history of abuse and PTSD suffer from disturbed biorhythms, which make it difficult to self-regulate. When a person suffers from abuse or neglect early on in life, insecure attachment forms, leading to poor affective regulation. During the first year of life, the HPA-axis is hypo-responsive. In the case of childhood abuse/neglect, children with insecure attachment styles are prone to have higher levels of cortisol in response to stress than children with secure attachment, and will develop poor HPA-axis regulation. In addition, the amygdala is hyper-sensitive and can result in exaggerated emotional responses and arousal to stimuli. Patients with trauma were found to have volume reductions in the prefrontal cortex, which affects their ability to inhibit fear and regulate their emotional responses. Abuse leads to limbic irritability which could make a person more prone to impulsive behaviors. As a result, sociomoral reasoning is affected.
Stress
Stress plays a role in a person’s ability to regulate by causing dysregulation of serotonin, GABA, and noradrenaline, which creates issues with social attachment, mood disorders, and cognitive problems. Excessively high levels of cortisol (stress hormone) can become so high that it damages parts of the brain related to affect regulation. Exposure to excessive stress can create abnormalities in the hippocampus that are associated with dysfunctional memories.
Poor Sleep
Poor sleep quality and insufficient time asleep are associated with decreased emotional expressiveness, poor emotional regulation, and difficulty with behavior regulation. Sleep supports the brain’s ability to restore homeostasis to brain functions by recalibrating the limbic system. Sleep disturbance is a strong factor in the development of anxiety disorders.
Biological and genetic factors also impact emotional regulation. Brain abnormalities, neurochemical issues occurring in the limbic system and basal ganglia, gene expression, and non neurologic medical conditions play a role in emotional regulation.
Gray Matter Density
Greater gray matter density in the prefrontal-limbic systems contributes to the ability to better regulate during a traumatic or stressful experience Having less gray matter in these areas can predispose a person to developing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic event. Decreased hippocampal volume is linked with stress-related mental illnesses such as PTSD or major depression and long-lasting traumatic stress.
Neurochemical Issues
Neurochemical issues occurring in areas like the limbic system and basal ganglia often result in mental illnesses. For example, dysregulation of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine affect hypothalamic functioning.
Genetic Factors
The MAOA gene (monoamine oxidase) is a genetic factor significantly associated with aggression, and those with this gene are at risk for developing conduct disorder (CD) or aggressive behavior especially if there is a history of childhood abuse. People with CD often have brain abnormalities that involve a hyper-responsive amygdala during emotional arousal and less activity in the prefrontal cortex, which involves impaired inhibition. Children and adolescents with CD have trouble with inhibitory control, emotional processing, and abiding to social norms.
Non Neurologic Medical Conditions
Non Neurologic medical conditions such as Pick’s disease results in disruption of the orbitofrontal prefrontal cortex, and can lead to socially deviant behaviors. In addition, multiple sclerosis, a demyelinating neurodegenerative disease, often results in symptoms of depression and mood disorders. Multiple sclerosis can involve structural damage to the brain such as disconnection between the limbic and frontal regions, atrophy of the hippocampus, and white matter lesions to the frontal regions, which involves impaired ability to process emotions.
You do not have to live in survival mode any longer. You deserve to experience a sense of calm and stability in your life.
Emotional regulation plays an important role in your ability to navigate life and the stressors involved in daily activities. Emotional dysregulation affects your ability to act according to society’s norms, relate healthily with others, and be successful in life. Your body’s ability to regulate involves both environmental and biological factors. It is a complex process testifying to the mind-body connection through which you experience life.
If you find that you struggle with dysregulation, I would encourage you to reach out to a trauma-informed therapist for help.
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