Therapy
Emotion-focused therapy promotes healthy emotional regulation, which is necessary for mental and physical health. Emotional regulation refers to the processes that we use in order to control the emotions we experience and the emotions we don’t experience, as well as how and whether the emotion will eventually be expressed. When we are not regulating our emotions in a healthy manner, we may show our emotions inappropriately and/or cause harm with our emotions. We may even block our emotions entirely, which is very harmful to oneself. Sometimes we may not even be aware of our emotions and they can influence us without us even being aware of it.
Anxiety is a normal reaction to something that is stressful, and it should help individuals function better. For example, anxiety should help us study for exams, perform well on the job, and be protective parents. However, sometimes anxiety is experienced in extreme or when there is no external justification for it. When this occurs, anxiety has a detrimental effect on our daily functioning. Symptoms may include intense worry, fear, nervousness, the inability to relax, difficulty concentrating, tension, fear of losing control, and confusion.
Depression is not sadness from experiencing a disappointment or a loss. Depression is much more severe. Depression involves feeling worthless, useless, lonely, and despair over the future. These feeling may be experience over months or years. Individuals who are depressed often experience loss of interest or pleasure in things they once enjoyed, weight loss, decrease or increase in appetite, sleeping too much or too little, fatigue or loss of energy, concentration problems, and indecisiveness.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is categorized as a severe anxiety disorder. PTSD can develop after exposure to a traumatic event, such as the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or threat to to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity.
Diagnostic symptoms include re-experiencing original trauma(s), by means of flashbacks or nightmares; avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma; and increased arousal, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hypervigilance. Formal diagnostic criteria require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (e.g. problems with work and/or relationships).