Emotional regulation is an important part of being able to function in your daily life. As you move through your day, fulfilling responsibilities, managing professional and personal relationships, and dealing with any challenges that may arise, emotional regulation plays a key part in how you behave. Compromise, compassion, and empathy are things that we all need to manage daily and require emotional regulation. 

Regulating your emotions can mean reevaluating things from a different perspective. It can also mean checking your own reactions to situations in an objective way. Learning how to regulate your emotions can serve you in a variety of ways in your life. Holistic health activities can play an important part in aiding emotional regulation.

Impairment of Emotional Regulation

There are some mental health disorders that can impair a person’s ability to regulate their emotions. They can cause faulty thinking and emotional dysregulation. Mental health disorders can cause a person to feel negative emotions like sadness or anxiety more intensely. These disorders include:

• Bipolar disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Borderline personality disorder (BPD)
• Depression and anxiety disorders
• Substance use disorders (SUDs)

SUDs can severely disrupt a person’s emotional regulation abilities. When a person struggles with SUD, they often turn to substances to cope with any uncomfortable emotions. Malibu Wellness Ranch understands that part of treatment needs to include the development of coping skills for emotional regulation. That is why they take a whole-person approach to treatment that includes holistic health practices.

What Is Holistic Health?

Holistic health practice is a unique approach to well-being that considers each person’s needs as a whole person. It is based on the understanding that a person’s well-being is made up of eight interconnected needs that must be met. These needs are: emotional, physical, social, spiritual, occupational, intellectual, financial, and environmental. The needs in each of these areas must be fulfilled in order for a person to thrive.

How Do Holistic Health Practices Help With Emotional Regulation?

In order to regulate our emotions well, it is important to understand the relationship between our well-being and our emotions. For example, let’s consider how our physical needs can affect how we feel. Everyone has experienced the feeling of irritability that comes with being hungry or tired. It is very easy to feel frustrated, annoyed, overwhelmed, and depressed when we have not met our physical needs.

The same can be said for any of the other eight areas of well-being. There are several factors that can influence our ability to handle our emotions. To give ourselves the best chance to handle situations effectively, we need to make sure that our needs are being met. We can use holistic health practices to develop healthy coping skills and strengthen our ability to examine our emotional responses.

Common Holistic Health Practices

One of the first things you should consider when trying to establish holistic health practices is making sure that your physical needs are met. Getting enough sleep, healthy food, and physical exercise is essential to well-being. Making sure we have a safe and stable place to live is important for our environmental needs. Participating in work that helps us learn and grow can be an important factor in our occupational, intellectual, and financial needs. 

Our spiritual, emotional, and social needs require a more purposeful approach. These needs will be unique to each person, and fulfilling those needs will need to be individualized. There are some common holistic health practices that many people find helpful.

1. Meditation: Meditating in a mindful way can help you focus your attention on how you are responding to your emotions. It can be effective in helping you reduce negative emotions. Meditation techniques can also be adapted to help you remain calm in tense situations. It can be a great way to make sure your emotional needs are taken care of. 
2. Journaling: Writing in a journal can help you keep track of your thoughts, successes, and things you are grateful for. It can also be a great tool for identifying areas of your life that you can turn to for spiritual nourishment. Journaling can help you recognize people and activities that help you maintain your inner strength, which can help you be in a better position to regulate your emotions. 
3. Connecting socially: Humans are social creatures, and we need connections in order to thrive. Spending time with people with whom you share mutual love, support, and respect is essential to your well-being.

Holistic Health, Emotional Regulation, and Addiction Treatment

At Malibu Wellness Ranch, we strive to empower each of our clients with skills that they will need to thrive. Our clinical programs offer clients several opportunities to develop healthy coping skills and begin healing. We also understand the importance of finding enjoyment in life. Our facility is uniquely able to offer a wide variety of recreational activities designed to connect our clients with joy. By utilizing holistic health practices in our treatment program along with our evidence-based therapy programs, our clients can develop stronger emotional regulation abilities. Our goal is to give our clients the best chance for success in recovery.