Therapeutic tools: Suffering in held in memory

Therapeutic tools: Suffering in held in memory

Every emotion involves a specific set of needs. When needs are met, experience flows and emotions are fleeting. If we feel shame but at the same time, we are validated by someone meaningful we gain reassurance and feel comfortable and confident again. If needs are not...
Therapeutic tools: Unmet needs and the source of suffering

Therapeutic tools: Unmet needs and the source of suffering

Psychological suffering and emotion pain signal unmet needs (Greenberg, 2021). Emotions carry information about whether needs are met or unmet. Les Greenberg refers to the psychological needs that are most commonly not responded to or are violated that leave a legacy...
Therapeutic tools: Types of emotions

Therapeutic tools: Types of emotions

Emotions can be understood as being healthy (adaptive), or unhealthy (maladaptive), according to Les Greenberg. Primary emotions are the first emotions people have in response to external or internal stimuli – gut feelings. Secondary emotions arise as reactions to...
Health, psychopathology and the regulation of emotion (TE)

Health, psychopathology and the regulation of emotion (TE)

Health can be understood as a state of optimal regulation and adaptive functioning of body, mind and relationships (Siegel, 2012). Health emerges from integration which is the linkage of differentiated parts of a system. Without integration, chaos and rigidity emerge....
The emotional brain and early learning

The emotional brain and early learning

Bruce Ecker writes that the emotional brain makes meaning in ways that are implicit and nonverbal. This ability to make models of the world is innate and present in 3-month-old infants who have expectations of their environment and respond accordingly. Psychotherapy...