Countering Emotion-Driven Behaviors

Abstract

One very important aspect of emotions is that they tell us to act in a certain way or drive certain behaviors. Emotion-driven behaviors (EDBs) are different from emotion avoidance in that EDBs happen in response to an emotion that has been triggered. Avoidance strategies tend to happen before an emotion has had a chance to occur. The same action can be avoidance or an EDB depending on when it takes place in the emotional process. Just like emotion avoidance, EDBs can become powerful habits in maintaining the cycle of emotions when the goal is to get away from the emotion. In this session, clients learn to identify EDBs and when and how these EDBs can become problematic. The homework for this session is to substitute opposite actions in place of problematic EDBs.