Emotional

OCCT8005
Regulation Across Developed by Sandra Mortimer

the Lifespan
  The ability to identify, manage, express feelings
 A person’s ability to:
 understand and accept his /her emotional experience,
 engage in healthy strategies to manage uncomfortable emotions
when necessary,
Emotional  be able to remain engaged in appropriate occupations (e.g. attend
regulation is: classes, go to work, engage in social relationships, play, learn) when
experiencing a range of emotions.

 Emotion regulation may dampen, intensify, or maintain emotion

  Sets the tone for responding to situations across our lifespan
(Siegel,2012)
 Is linked to resilience, flexibility and stress management
Emotional  Underpins occupational engagement
regulation  Underpins social connections and relationships

 Required for effective practice as an OT

Emotions and
the brain

http://www.slideshare.net/dgwessler/the-human-brain-44130277
Emotions and
the brain

http://www.slideshare.net/dgwessler/the-human-brain-44130277
Emotions and
the brain
Emotions and the brain
o Link the mental, social and biological domains within the brain
o Provide all incoming stimuli with meaning
o Connect to and facilitate memory
o Connect mental processes across time and within 1 time period
o Simultaneously attune us to current situational demands based on past
experiences
o Prepare us for necessary behavioral responses and actions
o Support decision making
o Enhance memory for important events
o Facilitate interpersonal interactions. Siegel (2012)
  Ekman & Friesen (1971) identified six basic or core emotions that are
evident among all cultures:
 happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, anger, and fear.
Emotions …  Spectrum, subtle/ nuanced and difficult to name
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seMwpP0yeu4
  do not all emerge at the same time
 Primary emotions (eg fear, anger, sadness, interest,
and joy) appear in the first year
Emotions
 Secondary emotions (eg embarrassment, guilt, and
shame) develop by the end of the 2nd year of life as a
child’s mental representation of self emerges
Emotional
competence is a 1) emotion 2) emotion 3) emotion
(EC): developmental
expression; knowledge; regulation
process that
comprises three and
interrelated
competencies:
How do we
learn about
emotions
and how to
manage
them?
Infants learn emotional regulation
via
 Ongoing exchange of eye contact
Responses that change with the situation
( loving/ responsive/attuned)
 Being held/ handled in a gentle Timely responses
manner
Consistent responses
 Rocking/swaying
 Neutral warmth Predictability

 Muscular and postural Feelings of safety and acceptance being

adjustments conveyed
 Verbal comm – (murmurs, singing,
response matching) Matching and marking affect

 (Champagne,2011)
  Class of nerve cells within the
brain
Mirror  Respond in synchrony with
Neurons the behaviour/emotions of
others
 Neurons in the premotor
cortex fire when observing or
doing a goal directed action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g
46secs -3.00mins
o Baby smiles  mirror neurons in carer’s brain fire and set
off a pattern of neural response which is nearly exactly
the same as if the carer smiled themselves  usually
leads to the carer smiling and feeling good
o Parent and Child “synchronise and reinforce each other”
(Perry & Szalavitz 2006 p 90), with both sets of mirror
neurons reflecting back each other’s emotions and sense
of connectedness
Results in:
o Empathy and capacity to respond to emotional tone
o Provides a neural basis for imitation and empathy
In detail:
 Parent looks at baby
 Parent’s pupils dilate with pleasure
 Baby looks at parent’s dilated pupils
 Baby’s nervous system is pleasurably aroused
 Beta endorphins/dopamine are released to baby’s
prefrontal region
 Baby feels good and prefrontal cortex develops
 Parent sees baby’s pleasurable response, beta
endorphins/dopamine are released, mirror
neurons fire, parent feels good
 And so it goes…
Registration:
• awareness of information coming to
children through what they can see,
hear, touch, taste, smell and
emotionally feel
• Children learn to make sense of and
“process” this information with their
parent.
 Disorganised,
Stressed,
Too Busy

“Calm and Alert”

Regulation Just right

Sleepy, Tired,
Dreamy, Vague,
Tuned Out

Adapted from – Mealtime Matters Workshop, by Gillian Griffiths & Shannon Downey
 Somatosensory Regulation – through self
(Self regulation )
 Self soothing using somatosensory (bottom
up approach)
 Cortical regulation (top down)
 Dissociation (state modulation)
Somatosensory regulation through other

Primary Modes
 Being rocked, cuddled, touched
Relational Regulation

of Regulation  Positive co-regulation

 Co-dysregulation
 Tied to primary relational templates
Pharmacological Regulation

 Optimal regulatory interactions use

multiple pathways (Bruce Perry 2012)
 Sensory processing & regulation & emotional
processing & regulation is:
 a complex and dynamic relational point of
challenge between the child and their
Relational contextual environment of which their primary
caregiver is the most important part
 Physical and psychological aspects of
regulation cannot be separated (Schore &
Schore 2008)
 Self regulation and Co-regulation Across the Lifespan

Toddler 
Infancy 
Parent guided
1st challenges: Internal homeostasis
self regulation Preschooler + ->
Via brain stem
 Sleep/wake cycles Adult helps the Adulthood
 Heart rate child to regulate Emergence of
 Respiration states of mind increasingly intricate
 Digestion
Emotional layers of self regulation
Plus emotional needs
regulation and capacity to seek co-
Parent provides regulation to directly
facilitate child’s SR regulation
Dyadic regulation
SR and CR
SR and CR SR and CR
(Seigel,2012)
 Circle of Security
Caregiver Attending to the Child’s Needs

I need
I need you to
you to

• Watch over me
• Delight in me
• Help me
Support My
• Enjoy with me
Exploration
I need
you to

I need
you to

Welcome My
• Protect me Coming To You
• Comfort me
• Delight in me
• Organize my feelings
© 2000 - Cooper, Hoffman, Marvin & Powell
To support
children’s
needs on the
Circle of
Security, and
facilitate
emotional
regulation
carers need to:
 oDonald Winnicott – Object Relations
theory
o“ Being with ”
o Resonance with and attunement to the
A holding emotional experience of another

environment o“ At the heart of developing a secure

attachment is the knowledge that
your caregiver is emotionally available
to be with you during times of need”
quoted by Kent Hoffman
oFrom this emotional regulation occurs
A holding
environment
Adults also require this to function
optimally
The experience of being able to
build a trusting and supportive
relationship with another person –
supports adults to regulate
themselves
So as therapists we often become
the ‘secure base’ and ‘safe
haven’ for other adults.
Example in
practice
with C&F

 http://rocketot.com/understan
ding-the-regulation-rocket/