Thérapie familiale et troubles de la régulation émotionnelle

Abstract

My work with families with addictive transaction leads me to meet borderline people suffering from serious emotion regulation troubles. In order to understand these phenomena better, I explore in this article the concept of emotional regulation from works of Scherer (1984, 2005), Gross (1998, 2002) and Philippot (2000). According to the person's pattern of attachment and to the singularity of family interactions, emotion regulation strategies memorized in form of schemas since childhood are going to differ. From a clinical case and the analysis of some extracts of the conversation, we shall see how the therapist's empathic interventions can help certain families to struggle against agressivity which arises spontaneously when they no more control anxiogen situations. Family therapy allows them to experience new coping and new emotion regulation mechanisms. The verbalization of emotions, the building of links between these identified emotions and each person's behaviour, the evaluation of emotions and behaviour effects inside the family interactions, the identification of a circular model of emotion regulatory processes specific to their family are so much stages which will be able to outcome to a systemic change. © Médecine & Hygiène.