Why Naming Your Emotions Reduces Their Intensity
This week’s Better You, Backed by Science is about the power of naming emotions.
When I was a teenager, if someone asked me how I was feeling I would have likely said ‘Not bad’.
It never would have occurred to me that specifically naming what I was feeling – if it was a negative emotion – could reduce its intensity.
But it can.
Psychologists call it affect labelling – the act of putting feelings into words.
Imagine you’re feeling stressed.
You might say, “I’m stressed.”
But if you pause and look more closely, you might discover that what you’re actually feeling is overwhelm. Or uncertainty. Or embarrassment. Or maybe a mixture of frustration and fear.
That process of identifying and naming the specific emotion appears to change how the brain responds to it.
In a well-known study, researchers asked people to look at emotionally stressful images while their brains were scanned.
Some participants simply viewed the images while others were asked to label the emotion they were experiencing when they viewed the images.
Incredibly, those who named their emotions showed reduced activity in the amygdala – a brain region involved in emotional reactivity and threat detection. There was also increased activity in frontal regions associated with awareness and regulation.
In other words, putting feelings into words appeared to help calm the brain’s emotional alarm system. It’s always scanning the background to look for signs of threat, but when you name the emotion, it’s like the brain says, “Ah, so that’s what it is, I’ll turn the alarm off now.”
Researchers sometimes describe this as “name it to tame it.” It doesn’t necessarily take a negative emotion away, but it certainly weakens it.
I love that phrase because it captures something many of us have experienced without realising it.
Have you ever noticed how talking through a problem with a friend can make it feel less overwhelming?
Often, it’s not because they’ve solved the problem.
It’s because you’ve found the words.
The emotion has moved from being a vague feeling swirling around inside you to something you can recognise and understand.
It’s a bit like turning on a light in a dark room.
The room hasn’t changed.
But your relationship with it has.
This is also one reason why journalling can be so helpful. Writing about how we feel forces us to give shape and language to experiences that might otherwise remain fuzzy and confusing.
So whatever you feel, name it.
And one final thought. If naming difficult emotions helps calm them, what about positive emotions?
Naming positive emotions can actually amplify them. Naming really is a win-win.
Instead of simply saying, “I feel good,” we might notice that we’re feeling grateful, hopeful, inspired, connected, or content.
The feeling was already there, but the words bring it into focus and cause it to linger for a little longer… allowing us to experience it a little more deeply.
Try This
The next time you’re upset, try asking yourself:
What exactly am I feeling right now?
Not what happened.
Not why it happened.
Just what you’re feeling.
See if you can name it as specifically as possible.
You might discover that the feeling softens a little.
Not because you’ve pushed it away.
But because you’ve brought it into awareness.
Try the same thing if you feel positive or upbeat. You might discover that the feeling evolves and you’re able to experience it a little more deeply.
Watch on YouTube
I make a YouTube video on the topic of most of these Better You, Backed by Science Emails. Here’s the link to this one.
And here’s the entire YouTube playlist of all my Better You, Backed by Science videos.
Reference (for those who wish to explore further)
Affect labelling study that showed reduced amygdala activity. Link.
Review paper on affect labelling. Link.
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