Emotions: Fully intact from birth through our last breath!

As a psychotherapist, I have had the opportunity to work with individuals from different walks of life, and one thing that I have come to appreciate is the importance of emotions in shaping our lives. Emotions are fundamental to our human experience, and they play a critical role in our physical and mental health.

There is a common belief that our emotional world is not fully formed at birth and that it develops over time through our experiences and interactions with others. However, from a psychotherapist's perspective, I can say that this is not entirely accurate. Our emotional world is, in fact, fully formed at birth and still fully intact on our last day.

To understand this better, we need to consider the nature of emotions. Emotions are not just feelings that arise in response to external stimuli; they are complex physiological and psychological responses that are hard-wired into our brains. These responses are part of our innate survival mechanism, and they help us to navigate the world around us.

For example, when we feel fear, our body releases adrenaline, our heart rate increases, and our muscles tense up. This response is hard-wired into our brains and is the same for all humans. Similarly, when we feel happy, our brain releases dopamine, and we experience a sense of pleasure and satisfaction.

These emotional responses are not learned; they are part of our biological makeup. While our experiences and interactions with others can shape how we express and regulate our emotions, they do not change the fundamental nature of our emotional world.

So, if our emotional world is fully formed at birth, why do we experience emotional difficulties or mental health problems later in life? The answer lies in how we learn to regulate and express our emotions.

As we grow and develop, we learn to regulate our emotions through our interactions with caregivers and others. We learn what emotions are acceptable to express and how to express them appropriately. However, when our emotional needs are not met, or when we experience trauma or other negative life events, our ability to regulate and express our emotions can become disrupted. This disruption can lead to emotional difficulties such as anxiety, depression, or anger.

Therefore, our role as psychotherapists is not to help people develop their emotional world, but to help them to regulate and express their emotions in healthy and appropriate ways. Through therapy, we can help individuals identify their emotional triggers, understand their emotional responses, and learn healthy coping mechanisms to regulate their emotions.

In conclusion, our emotional world is fully formed at birth and remains intact throughout our lives. However, our experiences and interactions with others can shape how we express and regulate our emotions. As psychotherapists, our role is to help individuals learn healthy coping mechanisms to regulate their emotions and improve their mental health and well-being.

This is applicable as we age into our senior years. As we age and start to decline, our bodies (and sometimes even our minds) start to betray us and break down. However, there is one area that does NOT break down, and that is our emotional realm. This continues fully intact and available, allowing seniors to interact with those around them. We can bear this in mind as they start to experience frustrations around decline and dependence — there still remains an area fully intact and functioning for them. Helping them to direct their focus toward caring for their emotions often helps to relieve their stress and anxiety around their physical needs being met.