Emotion as problem, emotion as solution

This chapter explores the Comprehend, Cope and Connect (CCC) approach to emotions in more depth. Noting the link between relationship and emotion leads to the impact of dysfunctional relationships on emotional health at a societal as well as an individual level. This impact underlies current ills such as environmentally destructive systems, racism, the prevalence of addictions and dependence on unsustainable consumption. Society’s avoidance of emotion is noted, as this is an impediment to the necessary therapeutic goal of enabling people to face and express emotions. Labelling emotions as ‘symptoms’ to be eliminated, as tends to happen within the medical model, can be seen as an aspect of this avoidance. The way in which emotions operate, based on the DBT analogy of emotion as a wave, is then introduced, along with ways of managing the different emotions to positive effect, through mindful appraisal and sound expression. Even ‘negative’ emotions such as anger, sadness and fear contain important learning and can be managed in the service of accepting reality, and then working on change. Mindfulness is key to achieving this.