Managing emotions: psycho-emotional therapy in English in Lyon

What are emotions for?

Emotions are neither good nor bad. Fear signals danger, anger a boundary crossed or an injustice, sadness a loss, joy what does us good. They guide our choices, connect us to others and tell us about our needs. They show up in the body (tension, warmth, a tight throat), in our thoughts and in our behaviour.

The difficulty therefore lies not in the emotions themselves but in how we experience and respond to them. Emotional regulation is the ability to recognise what you feel, tolerate its intensity and respond in a way suited to the situation. It can be learned, and strengthened at any age.

When emotions become a source of suffering

Support can be helpful if you recognise yourself in some of these situations:

• your reactions often seem out of proportion, and you regret them afterwards;
• anger or irritability are damaging your family, couple or work relationships;
• you feel raw, overwhelmed by what you feel or by other people’s emotions;
• you find it hard to identify what you feel, or feel cut off from your emotions;
• you hold everything in until it spills over;
• you try to soothe painful emotions with food, alcohol, screens or other behaviours;
• your mood varies a lot over time, for example across the menstrual cycle.

These difficulties are not necessarily a disorder. They may reflect a sensitive temperament, a history in which it was not possible to express what you felt, or a period of intense fatigue or stress. They also frequently accompany anxiety, depression or some neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD. A careful assessment helps tell these apart.

Emotions and hormonal changes

Hormones influence mood and emotional sensitivity: across the menstrual cycle, during pregnancy and the postpartum period, and at perimenopause. Many women describe times when everything becomes harder to contain, without always making the connection with these changes.

This is a subject I know well: my research dissertation looks at the links between hormonal awareness, emotional regulation and anxiety and depressive symptoms in adult women. Recognising these rhythms often helps you feel less helpless, judge yourself less harshly and anticipate more sensitive times. To find out more: women and hormonal life.

How psycho-emotional therapy works

By psycho-emotional therapy, I mean support centred on your emotional life: what you feel, how you experience it and what you do with it. The work is usually organised around three areas, which I adapt to each person.

Recognising and naming

We learn to notice emotions as they arise: the sensations in the body, the thoughts that go with them, the situations that trigger them. Putting words to what you feel is often the first step towards no longer being trapped by it.

Welcoming and regulating

The aim is not to suppress emotions, but to be able to move through them. Tools drawn from cognitive behavioural approaches (self-observation, work on thoughts, breathing, managing moments of overwhelm) help bring the intensity down and choose your response rather than be carried away by it.

Understanding where you come from

The way we experience our emotions was shaped by our history, our family and our culture. Exploring that history, with the insight of psychoanalytic and systemic approaches, helps you understand why certain emotions are so hard to live with and broaden your range of responses. For people living between several cultures, the codes for expressing emotions can also differ from one country to another, and this deserves attention.

Sessions last about 50 minutes, at the Brotteaux practice in Lyon 6th or by video, in English, French or Portuguese. The frequency and length of therapy are agreed together. Fees are listed on the home page; you can also find out more about my approach.

Frequently asked questions

Useful resources

• Mental health, World Health Organization
• S’informer sur la santé mentale, Psycom (in French)