Educacion emocional | TREC Psicologia

EMOTIONAL EDUCATION

When we talk about emotions we teach our patients, children, adolescents and/or young people that there are healthy emotions (negative emotions that help us) and unhealthy emotions (negative emotions that do not help us). Training the "emotional muscle involves learning to manage those negative emotions that do not help us and that manifest themselves through non-functional behaviours that do not allow us to achieve our goals and/or resolve conflicts in a satisfactory way.

It is necessary to teach that negative emotions are part of life and that they are normal, so it is important to train and educate our children so that they are prepared to encounter emotions that they do not like but that they can learn to coexist with them, manage them and change them for healthier emotions that bring them more constructive consequences.

Unhealthy emotions are clinically significant when they are intense, frequent and long-lasting.

Anger, depression, anxiety, shame and guilt are considered unhealthy emotions by TREC, while annoyance, sadness, fear, discomfort, grief and regret are healthier:

Worry and fear (a healthy emotion) are emotions that everyone experiences in the face of certain life experiences. They appear to cope with a situation that your child perceives as a threat and help him or her to cope with the negative consequences it may produce. It is, therefore, a natural alarm reaction to the perception of potential danger or loss of control over the environment, such as taking an exam, being separated from parents, darkness, etc.

However, when this restlessness and/or fear is experienced in an excessively intense or frequent way, it is when anxiety or panic (unhealthy emotion) is experienced, the child becomes blocked, interferes in carrying out daily life activities and reduces his/her autonomy,
(constant stomach aches every time he has to take an exam, difficulty in falling asleep, sleeping alone etc.)

Feeling sadness (a healthy emotion) is quite normal and does not in itself indicate a specific mental disorder. It is simply a psychological reaction that occurs when we are hurt by something or when we are faced with certain difficult circumstances that become a mountain.

Sadness is just another human emotion, and it is neither a bad thing nor should we be overly concerned that at some point our children may feel sad. They could be sad if they have an argument with a friend, if they have to give up a plan, or even if they feel this way for no apparent reason, perhaps due to a hormonal change or a low mood on a particular day (especially in adolescence).

On the other hand, when the intensity of this sadness increases and becomes a permanent feeling of discomfort and unease, it is when we feel depressed (unhealthy emotion). In these moments, this feeling of depression can paralyse our children by showing non-functional behaviours that interfere with their day-to-day life.

Anger (unhealthy emotion) is a learned reaction to frustration that almost never serves any purpose and almost always has unintended consequences.

All human beings experience some frustration every day; it is natural for obstacles to interfere with our plans and goals. However, it is not the presence of frustration that upsets us, but our attitude towards it.

Children and/or adolescents who tend to experience any impediment or obstacle in their way as unfair, often manifest anger, are so busy trying to get things to go their way and get justice done that they become upset to the point of being unable to cope with the situation and resolve conflicts appropriately.

In this case it is important to learn to be more tolerant, to change anger into anger or annoyance, which will allow them to be more decisive and to have better conflict resolution skills.

Shame (unhealthy emotion) is a feeling that can appear as a result of humiliation, shyness, insecurity, fear of ridicule, or when social or family norms are transgressed.

Its expression is often accompanied by physical signs and attitudes, such as hot flushes, a reddening of the cheeks or a postural attitude with a downward gaze.

Shame tends to block us from situations that your children may experience as really uncomfortable. It is important to re-educate this emotion to encourage coping strategies.

Guilt (unhealthy emotion) can appear in our children when they lose self-confidence and tend to devalue themselves (I am bad, I don't know how to do anything...) it is important to learn to manage this emotion to reduce its intensity and help them improve their self-acceptance.

EMOTIONAL EDUCATION

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Our aim is to be able to help you on a daily basis