Affect Regulation and the Developing Brain
Mental health professionals, educators, and parents are often confronted with children, adolescents, and adults who either show no affect or inappropriate affect in social situations. A good body of research, starting with the work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, now suggests that the capacity of affect regulation is developed very early in life. An infant's ability to handle stressful changes in the external environment is developed by being exposed to regulation of the infant's shifting arousal levels. When this does not happen, attachment is insecure and an unstable self-system develops with poor capacity to regulate affect.
This recording will address crucial issues relating to the neurobiological and cognitive bases of emotional regulation; how regulatory strategies are developed and used across the lifespan; social-psychological approaches; individual dissimilarities in emotion regulation tendencies; and implications for psychopathology, health, and clinical interventions. Various ways to modify damaged affect regulation will be examined.
You will recognize the importance in looking at how family functioning can protect or insulate youths who are insecurely attached. Social interventions in culturally different families and the role of religion as a stable force in affect regulation will be addressed. Gain insight into clinical interventions in different mental disorders such as externalizing disorders, anxiety and mood disorders, chemical dependency, and PTSD. You will leave the recording with a clear picture of the rapidly growing field of emotional regulation.
