Emotion Regulation Therapy
Core Mechanism
Developing motivational awareness (what emotions signal about needs) and regulatory flexibility (the capacity to respond skillfully to emotional experience rather than react automatically)
Ontology
Distress disorders reflect a collision of intense emotional responses with maladaptive attempts to control them — the regulatory effort itself becomes the problem
Therapeutic Voice
"What if the anxiety isn't the problem — what if it's trying to tell you something about what matters to you?"
View of the Person
An emotionally motivated being whose suffering comes not from emotions themselves but from the rigid attempts to control them
Evidence
Emerging evidence for GAD and comorbid depression
3 RCTs
None yet (emerging)
Integrates CBT, mindfulness, and emotion science. Specifically designed for the 'distress disorders' (co-occurring generalized anxiety and depression) that respond poorly to standard CBT.
Conditions
Epistemology
Blind Spots
Limited evidence base (still emerging); combines many elements (complexity vs parsimony); trained therapists are scarce
Contraindications
Active psychosis, severe cognitive impairment, acute crisis requiring immediate stabilization, clients whose emotion dysregulation is better explained by trauma requiring direct processing
Training
ERT workshop training + supervised practice
Mennin/Fresco training program
24+ hrs
$1K-3K
Philosophical Roots
Gross (emotion regulation); Mennin (emotion dysregulation model); mindfulness traditions; Greenberg (emotion-focused); motivation science
Related Modalities
Test Yourself
What does ERT mean by 'motivational awareness'?
Show answer
Understanding what your emotions are telling you about your needs and values — treating emotions as information rather than as problems to be eliminated.