Emotional Regulation Statements

Emotional flashbacks are trauma responses. The four basic primal, maladaptive, trauma responses are Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn.

Emotional flashbacks many times come out of no where. But they likely are related to past emotional trauma. With Complex PTSD, the specific traumatic events were probably frequent and occurred in many different contexts. It's not realistic, required or needed to remember the specific events to heal.

(I wrote about Anna Runkle’s method for emotional regulating here.)

Richard Grannon invented a system to help with emotional regulation when triggered. He discusses this system in his free, 11-video course on YouTube called CPTSD Recovery - Fortress Mental Health. In this particular video, Richard explains his emotional-regulation system.

I’ve summarized the system below.

Richard recommends setting an alarm and making the following emotional-regulation statements five times a day, in different contexts, to help retrain our minds with new thoughts and beliefs. Come up with your own goal states which reflect who you want to be instead of experiencing your flashbacks.

The mission is to create some space between our flashbacks and our emotional reactions to the triggers. That space will get larger and larger with time. Richard recommends doing this for at least 30 days.

I myself use this system several times a day, especially when when I am triggered with panic. When this is the case, I start by stating,
“I am having an emotional flashback.”

Emotional-Regulation Statements:

1. ”I am not my emotional flashbacks. I am me.”

2. ”I am moving towards my goal states with clear intent. My goal states are _____.”

3. “I welcome the wisdom and messages of my feelings.”

   • Identify and validate your current feelings:

     • ”I am feeling _____, and that is okay.”

     • ”I am feeling _____, and that is okay.” etc.

4. ”I engage in self-interested actions.”

5. ”I am my own self, living my own life.”

Also, Richard recommends using our fingers to associate with, and help remember, each statement:

Emotional-Regulation Statement number/finger:

• 1 is thumb

• 2 is index finger

• 3 is middle finger

• 4 is ring finger

• 5 is pinky

Here are some ideas for goal states:

agency

signifies the concept of a person's ability to initiate and control their actions, and the feeling they have of being in charge of their actions

serenity

the state or quality of being serene, calm, or tranquil; sereneness

sovereignty

independent power or authority over self

creativity, joy, peace, sanity…

Do you need coaching? Please contact me. I’d love to help you..