Can Emotions be Trusted?

Can Emotions be Trusted?

Advice is often given to not trust one’s emotions. Can emotions be trusted when they change so often, when so many people use them to justify selfish and hurtful acts, especially when the Bible says “The heart is deceitful above all things” (Jer 17:9)?   The answer may be yes… if the emotions are trusted as the signals they were designed to be.  Emotions are not to be trusted when they are misidentified, or when they are misunderstood regarding their function. 

Scriptural example: In considering the negative character "deceitful" suggested by Jeremiah 17:9 quoted above, it is important to keep in mind that the word used for “heart” in this passage (Iysh-Towb) is associated with the English word “conscience” which has just as much to do with thoughts as it does with emotions (Matt 15:19).  In this passage Jeremiah is addressing the idea that humans want things when they want them, and having them in that moment is not always best (see also Ecc 9:3).
Evolutionary example: From an evolutionary perspective emotions are thought to exist because they have historically “worked” to help mankind and society to survive (Barrett, 1993; Cankaya, 2011; Gausel & Leach, 2011). From this perspective, emotions that no longer work are considered obsolete and dysfunctional – making it important to know if the emotion being experienced is functional or dysfunctional, what to do with the functional one, and how to get rid of the dysfunctional one (Lee & Harman, 2010; Wolf, Cohen, Panter, & Insko, 2010). This view also adds fuel to the idea that one is dysfunctional simply because they are having an undesirable emotion.

Design Example: From a design perspective, defined here as “created by a loving God,” emotions have a design purpose that may indeed “work” and support survival, but is not limited to those outcomes (see Jer 29:11).  From this perspective emotions are positive in nature, in that they are given by God to serve a purpose, and give humans energy to act on perceptions of internal (body) and external (world) environments. However emotions continue to provide a function beyond “survival” in that they establish a medium for relational connection and intimacy. Had humans not been created with emotions, their response to God’s declarations of anger, love, and desire for intimacy might have been “huh?”  Without experiencing these emotions we would not understand God’s expressions of them, we would have only an intellectual capability to relate to God which is not His desire according to Hosea 6:6.
So What...

Like any energy, emotions, while positive, need to be released.  It is said that “Emotions buried alive, never die.”  The first step of the path to health is to recognize the intended, healthy purposes of our emotions; the second is to express them in a way that allows them to dissipate or be released.

Path to Freedom: Steps to Release emotional energy:

  1. Recognize the emotion – name it.
  2. Identify the source of the emotion – where is it coming from.
  3. Identify the purpose/message of the emotion – what does it want me to address, see; what does it want to say.
  4. Process the emotion – Is the source present?  Is the message accurate?  Do I need to act on the situation, the thoughts or the emotion?  What action is necessary, what are my options?
  5. Express the emotion appropriately.

Learning “how” to accomplish these steps is the work and focus of therapy.

Consider this:

Like any energy, emotions can be corrupted or made toxic.

More on this in future posts.

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References:

Barrett, Karen C. (Fall 1993) The Development of Nonverbal Communication of Emotion: A Functionalist Perspective. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 17(3), 145-69. This late reference is included, because it is often cited in subject articles, especially in the field of child development.

Cankaya, Ibrahim. (2011) Anger as a Mediator of the Effects of Anxiety on Aggressiveness in Teacher Trainees.” Social Behavior and Personality, 39(7), 935-46.

Gausel, Nicolay, and Colin Wayne Leach. (2011) Concern for Self-Image and Social Image in the Management of Moral Failure: Rethinking Shame. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 468-78.

Lee, Deborah, and Rachel Harman. (2010) The Role of Shame and Self-Critical Thinking in the Development and Maintenance of Current Threat in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 17, 13.

Wolf, Scott T., Taya R. Cohen, A. T. Panter, and Chester A. Insko. (2010) Shame Proneness and Guilt Proneness: Toward the Further Understanding of Reactions to Public and Private Transgressions. Self and Identity, 9, 337-62.


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