January 18th, 2011
This has been a central question for psychologists for a long time. Why is it that some people are able to influence what emotions they have, choose when to have them and change how they experience their emotions with relative ease and others find it more difficult ot even next to impossible? Why do some people have a pile of fears and others very few and can cope better?
There are many explanations for this phenomena, usually revolving around childhood experiences, however colleagues at the Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University in Nijmegen in Holland have just published a paper putting forward some interesting research and conclusions.
They have found that an individual’s ability to self-regulate their emotions is correlated with their attachment style in their adult relationships.
According to Attachment Theory there are two forms of attachment in our relationships: Secure and Insecure. Insecure Attachment has three sub-categories:
- Anxious-preoccupied attachment. These people usually have less than positive views about themselves, are anxious about getting the love and closeness they want and as such are preoccupied about the closeness of their relationship. This often comes across as clinginess to others.
- Dismissive-avoidant attachment. These adults see themselves as self-sufficient, and almost the opposite to anxious-preoccupied attachment people in that they value their independence and can often deny they need or want close intimate relationships.
- Fearful-avoidant attachment. These people are in a more confusing place in that they want close relationships but at the same time feel uncomfortable when they are in a close or intimate relationship. Usually this discomfort comes from a lack of trust about the motives of any partner.
The researchers found that there are three forms of attachment that appear to have a correlation or an effect on individuals’ ability to regulate their emotions as adults:
- Securely attached adults normally deal with and regulate both positive and negative emotions more easily than others.
- Dismissively attached people, tend to suppress or deactivate negative emotions, as a way of regulating their negative emotions but have few strategies for increasing or regulating positive emotions.
- Preoccupied attachment and fearful-avoidant attachment adults both hyperativate, exaggerate or heighten their negative emotions, so they can increase negative feelings but find it hard (without tuition and help) to reduce such emotions. They also find it difficult and rarely have strategies for increasing positive emotions.
The founders of Attachment Theory, Bowlby and Ainsworth and a legion of researchers after them, speculate that our attachment style as an adult is directly related to how we learn to have relationships as a young child, particularly with our main caregivers (parents) and in the family units we grow up in. This would suggest that we either learn strategies for emotional regulation directly from those around us when we are children, or as a reaction to how secure we feel those relationships are as a young child. The theory at the moment is that those who feel secure in their relationships as a child are more likely to have a better range of emotional regulation strategies than those that don’t feel secure in their relationships as a child.
Maas, A., Laan, A., Vingerhoets, A. (2011) Attachment, Emotion Regulation and Adult Crying. Journal of Emotion Regulation and Well-Being. Pp 181-195. Part 2. 2011.
Posted in Anxiety research, Fear, emotion regulation | No Comments »
December 11th, 2010
I get a lot of thank you mail due to the job I do. I don’t get them everyday but certainly not a week goes by without someone dropping me a lovely note about how The Fear Course has helped them. Normally these are from people who have been on the live course or the online course. However I got the following from Jamila who had only signed up for our free help guides and hasn’t even been on a course at all:
“David, thankyou for your advice. I realise my problem with interviews is actually related to a medical condition . I am seeking medical help for this. thankyou again for your advice”
And the advice? In one of the emails I send out I list a series of conditions that can be confused with anxiety and as it turns out Jamila, when she checked with her doctor, had one of the conditions I highlighted. For me this is an excellent outcome and evidence of what I was talking about in my last blog. There are medical conditions that have anxiety as a presenting symptom. Solve the medical problem and the anxiety goes. Beware of any anxiety treatment that suggests you don’t need to see a medical practitioner. They don’t know without a proper examination whether it is a medical or psychological condition.
As a matter of principle I show all my clients a list of the conditions and symptoms and if they have any suspicions I strongly suggest they see a medical practitioner. 95% of our clients do not have a medical condition and The Fear Course works it’s magic as it was intended, however for about 5% of people who pass this way this is frequently life and lifestyle saving advice. The advice is so important I include it in all my free stuff as well.
Posted in Medical Issues, Staying safe, anxiety, overcome fear | No Comments »
November 19th, 2010
I had a new client come to me a little while ago who was in ‘a bit of a state’. It transpired that she had tried an anxiety reduction programme she had got off the internet and the very first bits of advice she was given was, and I quote from the manual she was provided:
“YOU DON’T NEED TO VISIT THE DOCTOR!
STOP THIS ANXIOUS HABIT NOW!”
and
“Chances are that apart from giving you medication or passing you on to someone else such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, all the doctor did was reassure you that you are not ‘ill’ (some doctors don’t even do that!). OK so if that is all you are going to get from a doctor…why go? I mean, logically now, haven’t you had enough reassurance? You could go to the doctor a million times and get the same treatment every time…what’s the point?”
and
“Decide to come off your anti-anxiety medication” -
“the doctor cannot make you take medication”
And
“Stop researching your condition, doing so will only distract you from
the truth and the solution which can be found right here. The only
information about the physiology of anxiety you will need is
contained in this programme.”
and
“From this point on:
Don’t surf the web for information
Don’t buy books or visit libraries
Don’t ask people questions about your condition”
and
“ONLY FOLLOW THIS METHOD”
“This is very important. You MUST concentrate on this method and this one alone.”
As you can imagine I was a little surprised to see this advice. It is important that such therapies can work in conjunction with medical interventions where necessary. The blurb that goes along with this method states “you are not ill. You don’t need doctors or medication.” My only question is “how do they know without a proper medical diagnosis”? I agree most fear and anxiety related issues are psychological, but not all by any means. And some conditions, even psychological ones sometimes need a little medicinal kick start to re-balance things now and then, before a programme of psychological help. We frequently work with doctors and psychiatrists to help clients in this way and have a growing number of medical referrals.
If anyone tells you not to look for more information, not to visit a doctor and not to take prescribed medication and not to do anything apart from their programme, walk away. This is not safe advice.
This is one reason why we take our membership of the International Therapeutic Standards very seriously. They make rigorous checks to make sure the service is genuine, and that the qualifications and endorsements are real. If the service you are looking at isn’t a member, wonder why.
Posted in Buying a service, Fear, Staying safe, anxiety | 3 Comments »
October 26th, 2010
Most people feel better on a bright sunny day compared to a dark overcast day. In fact we even call them miserable dark days! The question that has only had scant research is how does light affect out emotions?
An interesting study about the effect light has on our emotions has just been published(1). In the fMRi study researchers at at the Cyclotron Research Centre (University of Liege), Geneva Center for Neuroscience and Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (University of Geneva), and Surrey Sleep Research Centre (University of Surrey), looked at how different colours of light affect our emotions.
The brain activity of healthy volunteers was recorded while they listened to “angry voices” and “neutral voices” and were exposed to blue or green light. Blue light not only increased responses to emotional stimuli in the “voice area” of the brain and in the hippocampus, which is important for memory processes, but also led to a tighter interaction between the voice area, the amygdala, which is a key area in fear and anxiety emotion regulation, and the hypothalamus, which is essential for biological rhythms regulation by light. This shows that the way the brain processes emotions is affected by blue light.
The immediate effects ambient light has on emotional processing might differ from its longer-lasting effects on mood, but the present findings in healthy subjects have important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms by which changes in lighting environment could improves mood, not only in mood disorders using light therapy, but also in our day to day life, by paying more attention to our light environment at home and in the work place.
There is also a body of work which is ongoing about the level or brightness of light and it’s effects on things like sleep, depression and anxiety.
Vandewalle, G. et al (2010) The spectral quality of light modulates emotional brain responses in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the USA, PNAS (2010), doi 10.1073
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October 20th, 2010
Ok following on from my last blog “How many emotions are there?” I thought I would answer the question a little more directly ;-).
As I said in the last blog it does depend on who you listen to. The answer could be:
According to Plutchik(1) who died in 2006, there are 8 basic emotions:
- Joy
- Trust
- Fear
- Surprise
- Sadness
- Anger
- Disgust
- Anticipation
Parrot (2) suggests there are 6 Basic emotions, 25 Secondary emotions and 134 Tertiary emotions or 165 emotions in all. These can be represented thus:
| Primary emotion |
Secondary emotion |
Tertiary emotions |
| Love |
Affection |
Adoration, fondness, liking, attraction, caring, tenderness, compassion, sentimentality |
| Lust/Sexual desire |
Arousal, desire, lust, passion, infatuation |
| Longing |
Longing |
| Joy |
Cheerfulness |
Amusement, bliss, cheerfulness, gaiety, glee, jolliness, joviality, joy, delight, enjoyment, gladness, happiness, jubilation, elation, satisfaction, ecstasy, euphoria |
| Zest |
Enthusiasm, zeal, zest, excitement, thrill, exhilaration |
| Contentment |
Contentment, pleasure |
| Pride |
Pride, triumph |
| Optimism |
Eagerness, hope, optimism |
| Enthrallment |
Enthrallment, rapture |
| Relief |
Relief |
| Surprise |
Surprise |
Amazement, surprise, astonishment |
| Anger |
Irritation |
Aggravation, irritation, agitation, annoyance, grouchiness, grumpiness, crosspatch |
| Exasperation |
Exasperation, frustration |
| Rage |
Anger, rage, outrage, fury, wrath, hostility, ferocity, bitterness, hate, scorn, spite, vengefulness, dislike, resentment |
| Disgust |
Disgust, revulsion, contempt, loathing |
| Envy |
Envy, jealousy |
| Torment |
Torment |
| Sadness |
Suffering |
Agony, suffering, hurt, anguish |
| Sadness |
Depression, despair, hopelessness, gloom, glumness, sadness, unhappiness, grief, sorrow, woe, misery, melancholy |
| Disappointment |
Dismay, disappointment, displeasure |
| Shame |
Guilt, shame, regret, remorse |
| Neglect |
Alienation, isolation, neglect, loneliness, rejection, homesickness, defeat, dejection, insecurity, embarrassment, humiliation, insult |
| Sympathy |
Pity, sympathy |
| Fear |
Horror |
Alarm, shock, fear, fright, horror, terror, panic, hysteria, mortification |
| Nervousness |
Anxiety, nervousness, tenseness, uneasiness, apprehension, worry, distress, dread |
There are some issues with the both Plutchik and Parrots’ categorizations; for example some people would say anger is actually a fear response, so things like jealousy is due to fear of abandonment and not due to anger.
An interesting new set of categories is springing up due to the web. There are a set od what is called markup languages which are used to create interactions between computers and humans. As the web develops there is a growing discussion about using emotions to interact on the web. Various projects exist including w3c and Humaine (Emotion Annotation and Representation Language) (EARL) which are becoming increasingly used to represent emotions on the web. Their list of emotions is quite interesting especially how the emotions are categorized:
Negative and forceful
- Anger
- Annoyance
- Contempt
- Disgust
- Irritation
Negative and not in control
- Anxiety
- Embarrassment
- Fear
- Helplessness
- Powerlessness
- Worry
Negative thoughts
- Doubt
- Envy
- Frustration
- Guilt
- Shame
Negative and passive
- Boredom
- Despair
- Disappointment
- Hurt
- Sadness
Agitation
Positive and lively
- Amusement
- Delight
- Elation
- Excitement
- Happiness
- Joy
- Pleasure
Caring
- Affection
- Empathy
- Friendliness
- Love
Positive thoughts
- Courage
- Hope
- Pride
- Satisfaction
- Trust
Quiet positive
- Calm
- Content
- Relaxed
- Relieved
- Serene
Reactive
- Interest
- Politeness
- Surprised
So there we have it. There are 8/6/48/165 depending on who you ask.
- Plutchik, R (1980) Emotion: Theory, research, and experience: Vol. 1. Theories of emotion. New York: Academic Press
- Parrott, W. (2001) Emotions in Social Psychology. Psychology Press, Philadelphia
- HUMAINE Emotion Annotation and Representation Language (EARL)
Tags: Emotion
Posted in Emotion | No Comments »
October 17th, 2010
A question I am often asked is how many emotions are there and what are they? People are often surprised at my hesitation to answer the question. This happened last week whilst I was teaching at the JR hospital in Oxford (Part of Oxford University Medical Sciences Division) and as usual I hesitated. “There is no definitive answer, it depends on who’s research you accept.” One student was so surprised I couldn’t just give an answer he blurted out “But it’s 2010, we must at least know how many emotions there are” with incredulity.
He was even more dumb struck when I said there wasn’t even agreement on what an emotion was let alone how many there are or what they are. Even in 2010 this is quite a complex question. Part of the reason for the lack of clarity is that it is difficult to separate out where cognition(thinking), emotion and feeling (sensory sensations like pain) each stop and the other starts. In fact there is a growing group of researchers and philosophers who argue it is impossible to make any distinction between between cognition and emotion anyway.
There are growing number of scholars who are highlighting the interdependence of our cognitive and emotive functions. Indeed more and more modern research is actually blurring the distinction between our thinking, behaviour, emotions and sensory functions rather than making the delineation between them clearer.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise there isn’t complete agreement about how many emotions there are or even what they are. having said that…
For an answer or two - see the next blog “How many emotions are there? An Answer”
Tags: Emotion
Posted in Emotion | No Comments »
October 10th, 2010
You would think that if we remembered an event to which an emotion was attached (episodic memory) to it that every time we remembered that event the memory would evoke the same emotions. For example if we had a frightening, fearful or anxiety inducing experience like a car accident, you might expect that every time you recall the accident you would get similar emotional recall as well.
I am in the middle of a literary review for my next book and I came across this little gem of a paper which turns the assumption that emotions evoked during recall will be similar whenever we recall that particular memory. However a couple of studies conducted at University of Utah, USA by Pasupathi show that the emotion evoked during recall will differ depending on the context within which it is being recalled.
The two main factors that appear to have an effect on the emotions evoked during memory recall are the gender of the person / people listening and even more importantly the reactions of the listeners. If the listeners respond in a way that is in line with the original emotion (say fear or fright) then the individual recalling the event will experience that emotion. However if the listeners are in agreement with each other but at odds with the original emotion of the event then this will have an impact on the emotion experienced by the talker.
For example if the person recalls a frightening event and the listeners all respond with laughter, the individual recalling the memory is very likely to report humorous emotions as opposed to the previously experienced fear related emotions. The same can happen the other way around where positive emotions become negative on recall where the listeners react with horror when told the story.
This has implications for emotional resilience in that the context, particularly the reactions of others around us, is quite likely to determine the reaction of the individual to any situation particularly resilience in situations that involve elements of recall of previous or past situations.
Pasupathi, M. (2003) Emotion regulation during social remembering: Differences between emotions elicited during an event and emotions elicited when talking about it. Memory, Volume 11, Issue 2 2003 , pages 151 - 163
Tags: emotional regulation, emotional resilience, Fear, humor, humour, Memory, recall, Research
Posted in Anxiety research, Emotional Resilience Research, Fear, Memory, anxiety, emotion regulation, emotional resilience, humor, humour | No Comments »
October 6th, 2010
I was teaching at Cardiff University yesterday and the question arose about genetic causes of anxiety, PTSD and depression.
If you do a Google search on this question you will get a lot of people basically saying no, anxiety is largely a psychological issue with little or no genetic component. Examining the sites a little further you find they have a huge vested interest in there not being a genetic component to anxiety, largely because the are selling “anxiety cures” (sic).
However there is quite a lot of good research evidence to suggest that in certain circumstances an individuals predisposition to anxiety may, in part at least, be genetic. I have written a more detailed article called ‘Is Anxiety Hereditary‘ which you can read by following the link.
If you don’t have time to read the whole article the answer is yes and no. There can be in certain situations, a genetic component to anxiety.
Tags: anxiety, hereditary
Posted in Anxiety research, anxiety | No Comments »
October 2nd, 2010
We have added new course dates for the following cities:
Dates soon for Belfast, Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol 
Dave x
Tags: fear course
Posted in Fear Course News | No Comments »
October 1st, 2010
I was reviewing some research at the Medical Sciences Division at the University of Oxford where I was teaching today and I came across some really interesting findings about indicators of depression. It has been known for some time that people with a wide network of friends tend to have fewer incidents of depression than those that have few friends. However most of the studies concerned show mixed results - we now think we know why.
It would appear that it is not just having a good network of friends that matters when times get tough, it is the connections within the network that matter. If an individual has a network of friends that aren’t in themselves connected to each other, that individual is at a higher risk of depression compared to people who have a network of friends who mainly know each other.
It would appear that interconnected networks promote stronger levels of emotional resilience by allowing more open understanding and support for and between the individuals involved, than people with no real support network or a network of non-interconnected friends.
Posted in Emotional Resilience Research, depression, emotional resilience | No Comments »
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