What is Emotional Processing?
It is a specific type of counseling that enables a person to discover where in life they have made changes or adapted coping means to deal with situations of fear, distrust, sadness or anxiety. Through this discovery they are able to "reset", if you will, those coping mechanisms to be healthy and happy ways to associate life and living.
The Theory of Emotional Processing (written by the Portland Psychotherapy Clinic)
"According to the emotional processing theory, fear is activated through associative networks that include information about the feared stimulus, escape or avoidance responses to the feared stimulus, and the meaning of the fear (e.g., threat or danger). Fear becomes problematic when it is intense to a degree that it gets in the way of functioning, or when it persists even when there are no clear indications of danger. In these instances, there may be maladaptive or pathological fear structures. The theory holds that chronic avoidance (e.g., escape behavior, avoidance, dissociation) often leaves these maladaptive schemas in place, as people do not remain in a situation long enough for new learning to occur.Emotional processing theory proposes that exposure can alter the relationships between the fear stimulus and these networks. For this to happen, the network must first be activated, and then new information must be encoded that is incompatible with what is in the fear network. This is accomplished through habituation. Staying in contact with a fear stimulus until there’s a reduction in anxiety allows for the encoding of new information that is incompatible with the fear stimulus (e.g., it's not dangerous). For example, in someone with OCD, repeated exposure to an obsession while refraining from engaging in a particular ritual serves to disconfirm maladaptive beliefs about the importance of the ritual in keeping harm away."
Some of the many ways to utilize Emotional Processing at Health Utah
When we come across barriers that inhibit healing, such as allergies that just won't dissipate or symptoms that are not relieved after determining their origin, we know that there is an emotional link to to the situation. Emotional Processing then completes the circle of healing.
