Why Do Emotions Matter?

Emotions are powerful forces in the human experience, and recently a lot of research attention has been turned toward examining them. Some may ask “Why bother studying something as common as emotion?” One answer is that while emotions themselves appear to serve basic and specific, life sustaining functions; they are also expressed in physiological ways that can halt our ability to function at work, at home, within ourselves, and in our relationships with others and God.  Research has suggested that emotional expression, while slightly different from one language or people group to another, have strong similarities across cultures: around the world an angry face is recognized as an angry face.  Psychological focus is called for when a person needs help in how to response to an angry face (someone else’s or their own) in a functional way.

This set of articles explore emotion as a launching point for several areas of study that emotions directly impact:

• Individual Psychology and how the person processes emotions internally;
• Relational Therapy and how couples, families, and work associates process emotions in relationship
• Implications to the Field of Psychology, especially from a Christian worldview, regarding topics of DSM design and definition of what is normal or abnormal. (See companion article: Developing psychological research conclusions from a Christian worldview perspective).
• Scientific Study of what emotions mean in our understanding of the biological substrates that make us what we are as humans – and the implications of that research from a creationist or intelligent-design worldview;
• And Spiritual Implications with regard to one’s relationship with God, God’s Word, one’s self, and with others.

During the course of my practice at several clinics, presenting these concepts from a creationistic/intelligent design perspective, I have heard patients repeatedly say “I wish I knew this growing up!”  The topics chosen in the following articles have been chosen, not as an attempt to prove or disprove any specific belief system, they have been chosen because patients have identified them as important, and because they work. The successful outcomes have not been surprising in light of the fact that the interventions represent attempts at practical implementation of scripture, supported by scientific research.

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References:

Pinel, J. P. (2011). Biopsychology (Eighth Edition ed.). (J. Mosher, Ed.) Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Thompson, C. (2010). Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising Connections between Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices That Can Transform Your Life and Relationships. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Siegel, D. J. (2009). Emotion as Integration: A Possible Answer to the Question, What Is Emotion? In D. Fosha, D. J. Siegel, & M. F. Solomon (Eds.), The Healing Power of Emotion: Affective Neuroscience, Development & Clinical Practice (pp. 145 - 171). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Kalat, J. W., & Shiota, M. N. (2007). Emotion (Second Edition ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.


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