Most of us feel sad, anxious, stressed or disappointed at times. However, for some of us these feelings are so intense that they become overwhelming and can sometimes even feel a bit like panic. Intense emotions are characterised by emotional outbursts, feeling out of control and/or withdrawal from situations rather than managing them. Difficulty managing emotions can impact many areas of life, including mood, relationships, work and parenting. The ability to regulate emotion develops as the brain matures and is influenced by many factors including genes, personality and experience. For adults struggling with overwhelming emotions, it is important to know that much of our ability to regulate emotion takes place in parts of the brain that continue to regenerate throughout our lifetime. This means that it is always possible to learn more effective ways to manage emotion and ‘rewire’ the brain to turn those new skills into habits. Many of our habitual ways of managing emotion can be shaped in childhood. For that reason, although I no longer have the facilities to see younger children and adolescents, I am happy to work with parents of young children or adolescents who have frequent tantrums or withdrawal, to help parents understand how skills like managing anxiety and anger develop, and how children’s emotion regulation can be positively influenced by strategic parenting skills.
Some signs of overwhelming emotion in kids, adolescents and adults are:
Self harm and suicide thoughts
Bouts of intense sadness, anxiety, panic or agitation
Distressing emotional outbursts in adults and frequent tantrums in children
Signs of stress such as being on edge and exhausted.
Low self esteem
Difficulty separating from parents
Angry outbursts
Avoiding interactions with others
Constantly searching for ways to become calm and balanced
A history of difficulties in personal relationships
Difficulties controlling things like food intake, alcohol, spending, gambling, porn, gaming or internet use.
Working with intense emotion often involves managing more than one factor, the first step is taking a thorough history to understand why these powerful emotions make sense. It is also important to stabilise eating disorder symptoms, depression or anxiety if present, and begin to discover new skills for managing emotions better. Appropriate strategies are drawn from evidence based therapies such as Schema Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, DBT, Acceptance and Commitment therapy and mindfulness.
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Leanda Cawdry, registered child and adult psychologist, specialising in intense emotions and self harm, Norwood, Adelaide east, South Australia. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Interpersonal Therapy are the treatment of choice for intense emotions. Psychologist in adelaide east, norwood, psychology, Psychologist specialising in self harm and emotional pain with relationship difficulties, psychology for tantrums. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Interpersonal Therapy Psychologist. self harm and tantrum psychologist. emotional pain and tantrum psychology treatment in Adelaide. Psychologist specialising in emotional pain and anxiety management. Psychology for Self esteem, self harm in adults, children and adolescents, Adelaide, norwood. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Interpersonal Therapy Psychology. Self esteem and lasting emotional pain management, psychology for Chronic emotional pain, and relationship difficulties . Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Interpersonal Therapy Psychologist. Self esteem and emotional pain and depression psychologist norwood. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) treatment in Adelaide and Interpersonal Therapy Psychology. Chronic self harm psychology, norwood, Adelaide east. Psychologist specialising in and emotional pain management. Psychology for emotional pain in adults, children and adolescents norwood. Lasting anxiety management adelaide east, psychologist for self harm. emotional pain in adults, children and adolescents psychology east Adelaide east. emotional pain psychologist. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Interpersonal Therapy Psychologist. Psychology specialising in tantrum management. Psychologist for emotional pain, depression and tantrum treatment in Adelaide east. Chronic and lasting self harm management, psychology for Self esteem and emotional pain in adults, children and adolescents. Chronic emotional pain, relationship difficulties and depression psychology adelaide east, norwood. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Interpersonal Therapy Psychology. Chronic emotional pain psychologist treatment in Adelaide. Psychologist specialising in emotional pain management in adults, children and adolescents east adelaide. Psychology for self harm in adults, children and adolescents. Lasting emotional pain in adults, children and adolescents. Psychology for emotional pain in adults, children and adolescents. tantrum psychologist. Psychologist specialising in tantrum and Self esteem management. Psychologist specialising in emotional pain, relationship difficulties in adults, children and adolescents, east Adelaide, norwood. Emotional pain management. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Interpersonal Therapy are the treatment of choice for intense emotions. Emotional pain and depression psychologist norwood. Chronic emotional pain treatment in Adelaide psychology, norwood, adelaide. Psychologist specialising in and emotional pain management. Intense emotions often lead to relationship difficulties. Psychology for tantrum, and tantrum norwood. Lasting tantrum management adelaide east, psychologist for emotional pain. emotional pain and psychology east adelaide. emotional pain and tantrum psychologist. Psychology specialising in tantrum management. Psychologist for tantrum, depression and Self esteem.