Emotional difficulties encompass those that individuals might encounter when understanding or managing emotions. These difficulties vary from person to person, in severity, endurance over time, nature, and the areas of life they might affect.
Whilst everyone experiences difficult emotions at times, as a natural part of life, it is when emotions become overwhelming or persistent, and impact functioning, that they might be thought of as emotional difficulties. At the more severe end, emotional difficulties may even meet the threshold for diagnosis of a mental health condition, such as depression or anxiety, which affect a significant proportion of the population – according to the mental health foundation, one in six adults has a common mental disorder, highlighting the extent of their, and associated emotional difficulties’, impact.
Common indications of emotional difficulties might include long-lasting feelings of sadness, anxiety, or hopelessness, mood swings, or overwhelm and distress. Emotional difficulties can also contribute to physical symptoms such as sleep troubles, fatigues, headaches, or muscle tension. These symptoms can even impact day-to-day functioning; sufferers might withdraw and isolate themselves, experience difficulties in personal relationships, or find that their quality of life and performance in academics or negatively impacted.
Treatment of emotional difficulties might include therapy to enable understanding and management of emotions (of which there are various types, catering for different individuals and their needs). Doctors might also suggest medication to help reduce and regulate symptoms. Other avenues include lifestyle changes, e.g., to sleep, exercise, and diet, and utilising support groups or self-help practices such as mindfulness can be valuable.
Further information and resources
Recommended books
- “Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Your Toolkit to Modify Mood, Overcome Obstructions and Improve Your Life” by Clair Pollard and Elaine Iljon Foreman – A practical self-help guide based on cognitive-behavioural therapy; this book enables recognition, understanding, and management of difficult emotions and the maladaptive thoughts and behaviours that might accompany them.
- “Your Mental Health Toolkit: A Card Deck: 45 Cards to Navigate Difficult Emotions” by Emma Cotterill – Whilst not a book, this card deck, designed by a clinical psychologist, allows you to trial different coping strategies to build your own personal store to draw on when experiencing emotional difficulties.
- “A Toolkit for Your Emotions: 45 ways to feel better” by Dr Emma Hepburn – The illustrated book accompaniment to the card deck above
