key hopes for this evening
 think about what
emotions are
 introduce a model
of ‘positive emotions’
 glance at consciousness
 very briefly consider
implications for therapy
personal background
work through a small charity whose aims are:
 to help people who are in pain or distress (especially
when effective help is not readily available elsewhere)
particularly for those with psychological difficulties
 to try to provide & encourage a whole person
approach that uses what’s best in conventional,
complementary, and self-help methods of health care
for more details & a downloadable copy of this talk go to the ‘good
knowledge’ section of www.goodmedicine.org.uk click on ‘lectures
and leaflets’ and look under ‘emotional expression’ in ‘past lectures’
some sources of inspiration
 Damasio A. Descartes’ error: emotion, reason and the
human brain. London: Papermac, 1996
 Gendlin E. Focusing-oriented psychotherapy: a manual of
the experiential method. New York: Guilford, 1996
 Kennedy-Moore E & Watson J. Expressing emotion: myths,
realities, & therapeutic strategies. New York: Guilford, 1999
 Damasio A. The feeling of what happens: body, emotion
and the making of consciousness. London: Vintage, 2000
 Lepore S. & Smyth J. The writing cure: how expressive
writing promotes health and emotional well-being.
Washington: American Psychological Association, 2002
 Greenberg L. Emotion-focused therapy: coaching clients to
work through their feelings. Washington: APA, 2002
key hopes for this evening
 think about what
emotions are
what are they?
what do they do?
why do we have them?
theoretical maps are crucial
albert einstein: “it is the theory which
in debate
with heisenberg
kurt lewin:
‘founder’ of american
social psychology
decides what we can observe”
“there is nothing so
practical as a good theory”
clients may well rate new understanding as
one of the most important aspects of therapy
Butler G et al Anxiety management: developing effective strategies Behav Res Ther 1987;25:517-22
what are emotions & feelings?
physiological
reactions
adapted from: KennedyMoore E & Watson J.
Expressing emotion:
myths, realities, and
therapeutic strategies.
New York: Guilford
Press, 1999.
reflection
internal
feelings
external observable responses
types of emotion & feeling
the following classification system is from: Damasio A.
The feeling of what happens. London: Vintage, 2000
 six primary/universal emotions
happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust
 secondary/social emotions
e.g. pride, jealousy, guilt, shame, embarrassment
 background emotions
e.g. excitement, energy/fatigue, wellness/sickness,
harmony/discord, relaxation/tension, stability/instability,
balance/imbalance
 moods, drives & motivations
moods are made up of modulated & sustained primary, secondary
or background emotions; drives & motivations express themselves
and are detectable through background emotions
what do emotions do?
 prepare the body-mind
for “appropriate” action
heart rate, blood flow, hormones, &
also changes in memory, thinking, etc
 provide information on
how situation is assessed
noting & interpreting the feelings
 send out signals to others
posture, voice tone, facial expression,
speed of movement send signals to others
about self and assessment of environment
what do emotions do?
prepare an individual for ”appropriate” action,
emotions produce major changes in the body:
1. the “body loop” changes the landscape of the body –
heart, lungs, blood distribution, muscles, viscera, etc
– via both chemical messages in the blood stream
and electrochemical messages in nerve pathways.
2. the “as if body loop” changes the representation of
the body directly in sensory body maps in the brain.
It is “as if” the body had been changed although the
changes haven’t actually occurred in the body itself.
Damasio A. The feeling of what happens. London: Vintage, 2000
what do emotions do?
prepare an individual for ”appropriate” action,
emotions produce major changes in the brain:
1. induction of specific behaviours such as those aimed
at generating bonding, nurturing, exploring & playing.
2. changes in how signals from the body are processed
such as selective filtering, inhibition, enhancement, &
alteration of quality of pleasantness/unpleasantness.
3. changes in cognitive processing involving shifts in rate
of production (slow to fast) and quality of focus
(sharp to vague) of auditory and visual images
theoretical maps are crucial
john
teasdale:
cambridge psychologist
it may be more helpful to think
of humans as having many
‘minds’ rather than just one
these different mind-body states are linked to
different emotions, different body landscapes,
different ways of thinking, different access to
memories, and different behaviours
‘body-mind as house’ model
humans are like houses with different rooms
which represent our different mind-body states
 it’s easiest to recognize the different ‘rooms’ by noticing the
different characteristic emotions they are linked to
 all human beings have much the same set of emotional mindbody ‘rooms’ in our ‘houses’
 all the rooms are there because, in the appropriate situation,
being in the room promotes survival
 when we’re in one room, it’s hard to remember there are any
other rooms in the house – feelings/thoughts/memories
 problems arise when we get stuck in inappropriate rooms
key hopes for this evening
 think about what
emotions are
 what are they?
 what do they do?
why do we have them?
why do we have emotions?
emotions can help us survive & thrive:
“in the wilderness in which the human race
developed its current genetic characteristics,
individuals who had the capacity to respond to
dangerous or otherwise significant circumstances
with an adequate set of emotions, and acted
accordingly, had a better chance to survive, to
have children, and to raise them than individuals who were deficient in that respect”
Gut, E. Productive & unproductive depression. London: Routledge, 1989
examples of emotional functions
anxiety can serve an individual by making
them hypervigilant - ready to run or freeze
and it also alerts others to possible danger
anger can help an individual act rapidly to
defend themselves when their territory is
invaded & it serves to frighten others away
depression can occur when our movement
towards a major goal is blocked - it causes
us to pause, re-evaluate and change direction
‘body-mind as radar’ model
the body-mind is like a radar & rapid response
system constantly assessing whether the outer &
inner environments are favourable or unfavourable
emotions (like a constant wash of changing colours) are
the ‘readings’ from this radar & rapid response system
the emotional radar system is ‘quick & dirty’ triggering
rapid responses that may be accurate, adaptive &
possibly life-saving or inaccurate & unhelpful
key hopes for this evening
 think about what
emotions are
 introduce a model
of ‘positive emotions’
 glance at consciousness
 very briefly consider
implications for therapy
what about ‘positive’ emotions?
Barbara Fredrickson’s ‘broaden-and-build’ model
 Fredrickson, B. L. What good are positive emotions? Review of General






Psychology 1998;2:300-319.
Fredrickson, B.L. et al. Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and
wellbeing. Prevention & Treatment 2000 (a web-based APA journal available
at http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/toc-mar07-00.html
Fredrickson, B. L. The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The
broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Am Psychol 2001;56:218-26.
Fredrickson, B. L. & Joiner, T. Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward
emotional well-being. Psychol Sci 2002;13:172-5.
Fredrickson, B.L. The value of positive emotions. American Sci 2003;91:330-5.
Fredrickson, B. L. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2004;359:1367-78.
Tugade, M. M. & Fredrickson, B. L. Resilient individuals use positive emotions
to bounce back from negative emotional experiences. J Pers Soc Psychol
2004;86:320-33.
what about ‘positive’ emotions?
emotions such as joy, contentment, gratitude & love
‘negative’ emotions narrow the thought-action
repertoire to solve problems of immediate survival
‘positive’ emotions broaden the thought-action
repertoire to build resources for future survival
feeling good promotes flexible, integrative thinking;
relationship building; exploration; & skill development
consciousness as evolutionary step
evolution of consciousness – major survival advantage
going beyond non-conscious reflexes & conditioning
changes in the body’s internal
a major leap forward occurs
consciousness
environment are monitored
when an organism develops
by basic brain stem structures
the capacity to recognize
making up the ‘proto-self’ core consciousness is the that responses are ‘mine’
‘feeling of what happens’
when we see, hear or touch
response
stimulus
Antonio Damasio The feeling of what happens: body, emotion
and the making of consciousness London: Vintage, 2000
three levels of being
 extended consciousness
& autobiographical self
 core consciousness &
present time core self
 unconscious biological
state & the proto self
key hopes for this evening
 think about what
emotions are
 introduce a model
of ‘positive emotions’
 glance at consciousness
 very briefly consider
implications for therapy
possible implications for therapy
some of the many possible implications
 clients frequently come because they are unhappy with





their emotional state – emotions are at the heart of therapy.
working with the client to construct maps & models
of what has been happening is often very therapeutic.
becoming clearer what a client is feeling is a crucial
aspect of therapy (‘arriving’).
what one does with the feeling (‘leaving’) depends on
whether or not the underlying emotion seems ‘adaptive’.
try to use ‘adaptive’ emotions – including ‘positive emotions’
– to fuel constructive action.
therapy aims to help process ‘non-adaptive’ emotions.