Emotional Regulation Strategies May Influence Anxiety, Study Finds

The Huffington Post:

How you deal with both positive and negative emotions could have big implications for your mental health. Emotional regulation — whether you avoid your emotions, or explore them — may plat a role in how much, and whether, you suffer from anxiety, according to a new University of Illinois study.

The findings, recently published in the journal Emotion, are based on survey responses from 179 healthy adult men and women. The participants answered questionnaires asking them how they managed their emotions and how anxious they felt in various situations.

Researchers found that the participants who utilized an emotional strategy called “reappraisal” — that is, looking at the situation or issue in a new light — had less social anxiety and less severe general anxiety than those who suppress their feelings.

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Emotional strategy can benefit not only mental health, but physical health as well. Research published earlier this month in the journal Psychological Science found that emotional regulation and generating positive feelings can be an important “psychological nutrient” in building good bodily health.

Read the whole story: The Huffington Post