I grew up like many of us believing that emotions are not essential to human functioning. My understanding as a young man was that emotions only would make me “weak” if I associated myself with them. Although not one person directly informed of my view of emotions, the society at large in my context shaped the way I understand what emotions are. In the 21st century, the study of emotions has evolved in some helpful ways.
Dr. Lisa Barrett, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, has had a big impact on our study of emotions. During a recent interview, with Dr. Huberman-Professor of Neurobiology at Stanford University-Dr. Lisa discussed what her scientific view of emotions is. Dr. Lisa pointed out that emotions are not real. She explains what this means for viewers. She explained that an emotion is not “in your head.” You will not find a mental state that reads “sadness” inside the skull of a person. She goes on to say that an emotion is a biological process; the body receives signals from its environment; the body’s systems like the nervous system create a model of what these experiences mean; the brain translates these signals to predict what type of movement patterns is necessary to adapt to the environment. The model created by the body is expressed along with the brain that a state of “sadness” may be emerging. Sadness is a biological process. The self is a prediction machine, in some sense.
Dr. Lisa further argues that emotional expressions are not absolute. Dr. Lisa explained that emotional expressions do not always tell the “real story” that is going on inside the material body. She points out that emojis that you find on many social media apps today use these computer-generating memes to convey a simple category. Dr. Lisa argues that a person may use expressions that do not convey the entire variety of physical states that a person experiences when an emotion arises “to the surface.” The state is physical, not mental, Dr. Lisa claims. A category most of the time cannot capture all of the physical and brain states that a person experiences when faced with a difficult situation. Situations create physical states to motivate survival; we refer to this complex process as “feelings” Dr. Lisa reasons.
Dissociative states support this idea that emotional expressions do not have absolute emotional states. Dissociation is the brain’s way of adapting to chronic stress, anxiety, and emotional and physical abuse. The body keeps the score over the years Dr. Bessel van der Kolk maintains. Dr. Lisa says the body keeps a “scorecard” of what the body experiences over the course of a person’s life. The brain cannot forget how it avoids the stress due to abuse in whatever form it experiences to survive through life; the brain does not forget because the person does not want to feel the same mental suffering again. One patient told me once that I am tired of “feeling anything.” Physical and mental suffering are real-the goal is to identify how to manage and overcome this suffering to live a life that is worth living.
Feelings are real, and they are not meant to overwhelm us. Dr. Lisa concludes her interview with Dr. Huberman by saying that each person can manage physical and mental suffering, i.e., sadness and/or anger, by evaluating his “body budget.” Each person has a budget of glucose, sugar, and other protein cells in their body. The body does not operate the same way when a person’s glucose levels are down. When your budget is running out, you may experience sadness differently than you would when your body budget is high. Dr. Lisa says this simple biological fact about body budget supports the reality that emotional expression is not absolute. Expression evolves as the body changes throughout your day. Glucose also helps with dissociation: A person will have less energy to not dissociate when faced with a stressful situation when the body budget is low. The body needs energy to remain “present” each day.
Feelings are real in some sense and the body is capable of managing them well.
Barrett L. F. (2016). How emotions are made: the new science of the mind and brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Dawkins R. (2016). The selfish gene (40th anniversary). Oxford University Press.
Van der Kolk B. A. (2015). The body keeps the score: brain mind and body in the healing of trauma. Penguin Books.
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Clinical Complex Trauma Specialist (CCTS-1),
Certified Dialectical Behavioral Therapist (C-DBT),
Certified Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counseling (CADC)
This post was very helpful. As a person who used dissociation to cope with trauma, my connection to my body is underdeveloped–and I am learning to connect to and honor my physical self. This part of the article (below) made it clear to me how my body and emotions relate to each other physiologically–and gives me hope that by managing my “body budget” I can better handle the emotional ups and downs of life.
“Each person has a budget of glucose, sugar, and other protein cells in their body.The body does not operate the same way when a person’s glucose levels are down. When your budget is running out, you may experience sadness differently than you would when your body budget is high. Dr. Lisa says this simple biological fact about body budget supports the reality that emotional expression is not absolute. Expression evolves as the body changes throughout your day.”
I am pleased to hear this blog was helpful to you. I am very happy to hear that your “befriending” your body now. Connecting with our bodies again requires incredible courage. Thank you for sharing your story!