Difficult emotions like sadness, anger, guilt, anxiety, fear, jealousy can be very overwhelming to experience. They can put us in a great amount of distress. As a result, we may want the goal of our mental health care journey to be that we stop feeling these emotions. But to say that we want to stop feeling sad, hurt, angry, guilty is truly a response to the distress that they put us in - a response to say that we are not okay with this distress.
Distress can get amplified when we feel like there there is no point or meaning to experiencing these difficult emotions. But truth be told, every emotion has its own space and purpose for why it shows up for us. Therapy can help us recognize and explore the purpose of emotions - both positive as well as the difficult ones. Perhaps, recognizing this purpose can help us make meaning of the difficult emotions, and this helps to manage or reduce the distress we experience.

Have you discovered a purpose to emotions through therapy?