The Power of Naming Emotions
While I’ve always been a big feeler, I haven’t always known how to skillfully experience my emotions. At their core, emotions are messengers that drive action. They let us know what is important to us. However, the message can become muddled if we don’t take time to validate the emotion by naming it. By naming our emotions, we are able to separate from them. This gives us space to make choices that are reflective of our values instead of letting our emotions make the choices for us.
Intentionally labeling emotions has been found to help us feel more in control, gain clarity, and decrease physiological distress. Through fMRI imaging Psychologist Matthew Lieberman found that labeling an emotional experience causes less activity in the amygdala (the brain’s integrative center for emotions) which means less emotional distress. This suggests that labeling an emotion suppresses the area of the brain that creates emotional pain.
If this is a new concept for you – you are not alone! Here are a few questions to ask yourself the next time you’re struggling to name the emotion you are experiencing:
If you could give this emotion a name, what would it be? An emotion wheel (like the one pictured above) can be helpful here.
Where do you connect to this emotion in your body? Do a quick scan of your body from head to toe and see what stands out to you. Any sensation big or small is worthy to note.
If this sensation could talk, what would it say?
Does this feeling have a color? If so, what would it be?
Does this feel like something you’ve experienced before? If so, what did you call it then?
Try it out! Use whatever label you’ve come up with (“I feel ___”.) and see if it feels right to you. If it doesn’t fit, go back to the wheel and try again.
Learning how to name, validate, and process emotions is a huge part of the therapeutic process and something that I work on with clients each and every week. If you are interested in taking this skill building further, I would love to support you. You can schedule a free 20-minute consultation here to get started.
Be well,
Emily
Source: Lieberman MD, Eisenberger NI, Crockett MJ, Tom SM, Pfeifer JH, Way BM. Putting feelings into words: affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychol Sci. 2007 May;18(5):421-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01916.x. PMID: 17576282.
