Emotional expression is the link between internal experience and the outside world. It is intimately connected to who we are, how we feel, and how we relate to others. In daily life, expression enables people to communicate with each other and influence relationships; in psychotherapy, it provides important information about how clients are feeling and how they are relating to the therapist. This lucid volume examines expressions of such feelings as love, anger, and sadness, and highlights the individual and interpersonal processes that shape emotional behavior. It offers a lively and comprehensive discussion of the role of emotional expression and nonexpression in individual adaptation, social interaction, and therapeutic process. Drawing upon extensive theory and research, the authors provide coherent guidelines to help clinicians, researchers, and students identify, conceptualize, and treat problems in emotional behavior. They show that expression and nonexpression come in many different forms, with a wide range of personal and relational consequences. The effects of expressing one's feelings depend on what is expressed, to whom, in what way, and in what context. Expression can lead to greater self-knowledge, enhanced coping, and fuller intimacy, but it can also result in embarrassment, misunderstanding, or rejection. Conversely, nonexpression can involve a frustrating lack of opportunity to express, or problems in accessing or articulating feelings, but it can also reflect cultural values or effective coping efforts. Through vivid clinical examples, the authors illuminate a range of problems related to both expression and nonexpression, and provide insight into how these can be addressed in individual and couple therapy. This practical and clearly written guide is an important resource for teachers, students, and researchers of clinical, counseling, social, personality, and health psychology, as well as practicing counselors and psychotherapists. It will also serve as a text in advanced undergraduate and graduate-level courses on emotion and interpersonal communication, and in graduate-level counseling and psychotherapy seminars.
I. Introduction 1. Expression, Nonexpression, and Well-Being: An Overview II. Intrapersonal Processes 2. The Myth of Emotional Venting 3. Blind Spots and Epiphanies: Expression, Nonexpression, and Emotional Insight 4. The ""Shoulds,"" ""Oughts,"" and ""Musts"" of Emotional Behavior: Expressive Goals and Values III. Interpersonal Processes 5. Family Socialization of Emotional Behavior 6. Men, Women, and the Language of Love 7. Telling One's Troubles: Expression of Distress in Intimate Relationships IV. Treatment Implications 8. Expression and Nonexpression in Psychotherapy: Facilitating Emotional Understanding and Behavioral Change 9. Beyond Sadness: Therapeutic Approaches to Emotional Constriction in Depression 10. Flooding or Blunting: Vacillating Expression and Nonexpression in Bereavement and Trauma 11. Emotional Expression in Marital Therapy 12. Expression-Related Interventions in Health Psychology V. Conclusion 13. Balance in Emotional Behavior
