Emotion regulation
Emotions are a normal and natural part of life. Although we might not always enjoy emotions like fear or sadness, all emotions provide vital information about the environment around us. We should feel scared when a threat is present — that’s how we stay alive!
However, when our emotional responses stop matching the context (e.g., feeling anxious all the time, even when nothing anxiety-provoking is happening), it can be hard to know when our emotions are sending us useful information, and whether we should trust our emotions at all.
Enter emotion regulation.
Emotion regulation is the set of processes that allow us to manage what emotions we feel, when we feel them, and how intensely we experience them.
My research has examined how different emotion regulation patterns can be helpful (i.e., adaptive) or unhelpful (i.e., maladaptive) in different situations. I am also investigating emotion regulation (and other related emotional processes) in marginalized communities like LGBTQ folks. For instance, I am curious about what emotion regulation patterns predict resilience in LGBTQ folks who experience high rates of stigma and discrimination.
Relevant publications
Seager van Dyk, I., Aldao, A., & Pachankis, J. E. (2022). Coming out under fire: The role of minority stress and emotion regulation in sexual orientation disclosure. PLOS ONE, 17(5), e0267810. Link
Christensen, K., Seager van Dyk, I., Southward, M.W., & Vasey, M. (2021). Evaluating interactions between emotion regulation strategies through the interpersonal context of female friends. Journal of Clinical Psychology. Link
Gillikin, L. M., Manasse, S. M., & Seager van Dyk, I. (2021). An examination of emotion regulation as a mechanism underlying eating disorder pathology in lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. Eating Behaviors, 41, 101508. Link
Christensen, K., Seager van Dyk, I., Nelson, S.V., & Vasey, M. (2020). Using multilevel modeling to characterize interpersonal emotion regulation strategies and psychopathology in female friends. Personality and Individual Differences. Link
Seager, I., Mennin, D. S., & Aldao, A. (2019). Positive emotion in generalized anxiety disorder. In J. Gruber (Ed.) Oxford Handbook of Positive Emotion and Psychopathology (pp. 298-311). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Link
Rogers, A.H., Seager, I., Haines, N., Hahn, H., Aldao, A., & Ahn, W-Y. (2017). The indirect effect of emotion regulation on minority stress and problematic substance use in lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. Frontiers in Psychology: Gender, Sex and Sexuality Studies, 8, 1881. Link
Seager, I., & Aldao, A. (2016). Applying basic affective science to clinical practice: a focus on social contexts and sexual minority clients. The Clinical Psychologist, 69(3), 7-15. Link
Aldao, A., Gee, D., De Los Reyes, A., & Seager, I. (2016). Emotion regulation as a transdiagnostic factor in the development of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology: Current and future directions. Development and Psychopathology, 28(4), 926-946. Link
Selected presentations
See poster images below
Pretty and Witty and Gay: Positive Affect Regulation Mediates the Relationship Between Queer Identity Factors and Psychological Distress. ABCT, 2020.
Eating Pathology in Sexual Minority Populations: The Indirect Effect of Emotion Regulation Deficits. ABCT, 2020.
Bouncing Back from Discrimination: Affective Factors Promoting Resilience in Sexual Minorities. ICPS - Paris, 2019
I’ll Be There For You: The Relationship Between Intra- and Interpersonal Emotion Regulation in Female Friends. ABCT, 2018
The Perils of Keeping it in the Family: Emotional Reactivity and Discrimination in Bisexual Adults. SAS, 2018
