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Emotional processing “most people successfully process the overwhelming majority of the disturbing events that occur in their lives” Rachman 1980 “it is as if the body has a second immune system, an emotional system, devoted not to physical protection but protection from emotional hurt and trauma” Baker 2003
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Emotional processing course
How to understand and handle your emotions
Professor Roger Baker, Consultant Clinical PsychologistMrs Sandra May, Primary Care Counsellor
Mrs Ann Henderson, Primary Care Counsellor
© Roger Baker 2006
Welcome
Emotional processing
“most people successfully process the overwhelming majority of the disturbing events that occur in their lives” Rachman 1980
“it is as if the body has a second immune system, an emotional system, devoted not to physical protection but protection from
emotional hurt and trauma” Baker 2003
Sessions
Session 1
Understanding emotions
Session 2
Are emotions our friends or enemies?
Session 3
What does our emotion rule book say?
Session 4
Bottling up emotions or facing them
Session 5
Looking emotions in the eye
Session 6
Tying it all together
Session 7
Follow up session
“Emotional processing;healing through feeling”
Dr Roger Baker, Lion-Hudson Publishers, 2007
Why run the course?
Emotions are an important source of information about the world
Listen to feelings and understand them better
Identify blockages to emotional lifeFace emotions, not avoid
Learn to express feelings better
Find the right balance in emotional life
‘On waterloo bridge ’ by Wendy Cope
Why group sessions
Can take in information and apply it as individuals
But with the added benefit of learning fromothers’ experienceRealise you are not alone and notmentally abnormalHelp each other
ConfidentialityAll information shared in the group is confidential
It should not go outside the group
Please don’t share others’ information at home(feel free to share your own)
This helps us to feel more secure in sharing things
R E S P E C T
Identifying emotions
Emotions are complexMixture of positive and negative elementsMany different emotionsThey change quickly
We can ‘pick’ certain aspects of the memory to focus onUnhelpful rumination on negative events
Identifying emotions: the interview
Our expectation about the friendshipOur beliefs about what happenedOur general way of viewing the world
We have typical ways of judging the intentions of others
The emotions we experience are affected by:
What are normal feelings? (1)
We have many different feelings/emotions each day
Emotions do not have to be powerful (eg anger) but can be quite small (eg mild feeling of satisfaction)
Some emotions are simple eg anger, others complex eg guilt at feeling so happy, tinged with yearning to be a better person
Emotions are usually a reflection of important things (positive or negative) happening to us
What are normal feelings? (2)
These things can be big (car crash) or small (late for work)
The strength of our feelings is usually related to the strength of the trigger event (eg loss of a fiver v loss of a parent)
We are more sensitive when tired, fatigued, ill, alcohol or drug use, under stress
We can have feelings about having feelings (eg exasperated at feeling anxious)
Session 1 - Homework
What’s the positive emotion you feel most often?What’s the negative emotion you feel most often?
Even if you found today difficult, please come to the next session.
Keep going.If there’s something which makes it difficult for you to return, please tell Sandra or Roger. We might be able
to sort it out.
See you next time
