What Is The Link Between Neuroticism And Emotion Regulation?

Neuroticism is a personality trait generally characterized by emotional instability and moodiness. Individuals with high levels of neuroticism may experience more negative emotions and find it hard to control strong emotional reactions. Meanwhile, emotion regulation is a skill people may use to manage how they respond to various situations, maintain interpersonal relationships, and manage life's challenges. Personality traits like neuroticism can affect emotion regulation. People with high levels of neuroticism may use unhelpful strategies to manage their emotions, such as dwelling on negative thoughts or trying to suppress their feelings. They may also be less likely to use a strategy called cognitive reappraisal, which typically involves thinking differently about a situation to change how they feel about it. Online therapy may be one way to manage neuroticism and improve emotion regulation.

Defining neuroticism

Neuroticism tends to be a key part of the Big Five Personality Traits, a widely recognized way of classifying different aspects of personality. People with high neuroticism often find it challenging to maintain emotional stability and may feel doubtful, irritable, or in a negative mood more often than others. However, these traits typically exist on a spectrum; nearly everyone has some level of neuroticism, but the degree can vary from person to person.

Here are some common characteristics of people with high levels of neuroticism:

• They may be emotionally unstable.
• They may often feel anxious.
• They can be moody.
• They may experience symptoms of depression.
• They can be more likely to feel stressed out.

Individuals with high neuroticism are usually more sensitive to negative information. One part of understanding neuroticism can be viewing how it affects someone's ability to manage their feelings and handle stress. Because people with high neuroticism often find emotion regulation challenging, their negative feelings may become even more intense.

Emotion regulation explained

Emotion regulation generally encompasses the ability to manage your feelings. It can be an important skill that often impacts overall mental health, as it can help people manage the ups and downs of everyday life. Emotion regulation may help you manage stress, communicate effectively with others, and maintain healthy relationships.

The term “cognitive emotion regulation” typically refers to using mental strategies to regulate emotions. Two common emotion regulation processes may include cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. These strategies tend to involve rethinking a challenging situation to reduce anger or anxiety and focusing on the positive aspects of an experience.

Cognitive reappraisal is a specific strategy that normally involves changing how you interpret a situation to alter how you feel about it. Cognitive emotion regulation strategies may be measured through tools like an emotion regulation questionnaire.

On the other hand, expressive suppression is usually about keeping your emotions from showing. This might involve hiding your feelings or keeping a straight face, even when you're feeling strong emotions on the inside.

Emotion regulation may be a key part of maintaining one’s mental health. Both cognitive emotion regulation and expressive suppression can shape how we experience emotions, and finding the right balance between them may improve mental well-being.

The link between neuroticism and emotion regulation

Emotion regulation can strongly affect our mental, social, and physical health. Let’s dive further into the relationship between neuroticism and emotion regulation.

How neuroticism affects emotion regulation

Neuroticism may make people more susceptible to negative feelings and more likely to experience stress and other challenging emotions. Research shows that people with high levels of neuroticism often experience challenges with emotion regulation, which can make them feel upset more intensely and for longer periods.

The close relationship between neuroticism and emotion regulation can create a cycle in which negative emotions, such as sadness and anger, become more challenging to manage. As a result, the cycle may worsen the intensity of these emotions and add to an individual's overall distress.

In addition, a correlation analysis has demonstrated that people with high levels of neuroticism tend to have what's called a negative valence bias. In other words, they may be more likely to see unclear situations in a negative light.

Emotion regulation in managing neuroticism

Having a clear picture of the link between neuroticism and emotion regulation may help individuals confront high levels of neuroticism. One potential strategy may be to use interpersonal emotion regulation or, in other words, relationships with others, to help manage emotions. 

Some studies have found that people with high neuroticism who regularly rely on interpersonal relationships in this way may balance out the negative bias that often comes with neuroticism and improve their emotional health.

Another potential solution may be mindfulness, which may help individuals with high neuroticism levels become more aware of their emotional reactions and work through their negative biases. Through mindfulness, an individual can learn to observe and understand their emotions without becoming consumed by them. Increased self-awareness may improve emotion regulation and foster a healthier approach to handling negative emotions.

Building emotion regulation skills

Learning skills in emotion regulation may help individuals manage positive and negative feelings, which can help maintain a healthy emotional balance. Our brains, especially a part called the amygdala, can play a role in how we control our emotions through methods like reappraisal and expressive suppression.

To build skills in emotion regulation, individuals can adopt various strategies. Some of these, including two we’ve already briefly covered, are:

• Practicing reappraisal: This technique generally involves changing how one thinks about a situation to change its emotional impact. Learning to see things from a more positive or neutral point of view may lessen the impact of negative emotions.
• Utilizing expressive suppression: Although not ideal as a long-term strategy, expressive suppression may be helpful in some situations. It normally involves intentionally keeping emotions from showing. Expressive suppression may be useful in situations where showing intense emotions might not be socially acceptable or culturally appropriate.
• Exploring cultural influences: A person’s cultural background may impact how they express and control emotions. Recognizing these influences may provide a better understanding of personal emotion regulation strategies.

Regularly practicing these types of skills may lead to improved overall emotional functioning and personal development. Building emotion regulation skills can be a lifelong journey, but it may positively impact a person’s personal and professional life.

Benefits of online therapy

There may be several advantages to using online therapy for mental health support. First, it may be more accessible, as individuals can often participate in sessions from the comfort of their own homes. In addition, online therapy may be a more comfortable form of treatment for those who struggle with neuroticism and emotion regulation, as the control individuals can have over their online therapy experience may counteract any apprehension they may feel about seeking professional help.

Effectiveness of online therapy

Online therapy, also known as teletherapy, may be an effective way to receive mental health services, especially for those who may have high neuroticism levels. Research has shown that online therapy can be effective in treating various mental health conditions. One study found that online interventions can be as effective as face-to-face therapy sessions for addressing potentially challenging personality traits like neuroticism.