Introduction: Emotions, emotion regulation, and health

Abstract

Emotionsmay be considered as the spices of our lives. They enable us to enjoy life to the fullest, but they also have other important functions. There is the interpersonal, communicative function aimed to signal to others information about our internal state and behavioral intentions (Frijda, 1986). In addition, specific intrapersonal functions of emotional expression have been demonstrated. For example, emotions make us aware of what really is important in our lives. As such, they are important for adequate decision making (Bechara, Damasio, & Damasio, 2000). In addition, they help and prepare us to better deal with environmental demands. Emotions manifest themselves in specific cognitive, behavioral, and physiologic reactions and they are crucial for adaptation to new situations. Emotions result from the outcome of the evaluation of environmental stimuli. When attended to and appraised in certain ways, a coordinated set of responses involving behavioral and physiologic systems is triggered (John & Gross, 2004). As such, emotions provide the necessary physiologic support for emotion-specific action tendencies, thereby facilitating overt action. A clear example of this process is the fightflight reaction, which implies increased heart rate and blood pressure, dilation of the bronchi, and increased blood flow to the muscles, preparing the body for action. Depressed affect and grief, as another example, are characterized by a quite different physiologic reaction pattern, aimed at the conservation of energy. There is apathy and often a reduced muscle tone with the head directed downward there is no intention for action. Passivity prevails, and sexual and maternal drives are strongly reduced (Henry & Stephens, 1977; Vingerhoets & Perski, 2000). The idea is that this passive condition may reduce aggression and instead may act as a manifest signal to indicate that the person is in dire need of emotional or instrumental support from others (Nesse, 2000; Thornhill & Thornhill, 1989). In light of their adaptive function, it is plausible that emotions have played an essential role for survival in the course of human evolution. It is important to note, however, that this does not mean that emotions should be regarded as outdated adaptation systems that were only advantageous for the human species in the very past. In fact, they still are crucial for proper psychologic functioning in the current modern society. For example, emotions are essential for adequate decision making. The notion that emotions should be considered as the opposite of the ratio and not important for cognition has to be qualified as obsolete and incorrect (Bechara, Damasio, & Damasio, 2000). But perhapsmost important for this volume, the health-promoting effect of emotions in the social world depends on our ability to regulate these emotions in an adaptive way.