How to Deal With Negative Emotions

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsTypesCausesUnhealthy Ways of CopingHealthy Coping StrategiesFrequently Asked Questions

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Types

Causes

Unhealthy Ways of Coping

Healthy Coping Strategies

Frequently Asked Questions

Negative emotions are unpleasant and disruptive emotional reactions. Examples of negative emotions include sadness, fear, anger, or jealousy. These feelings aren’t just unpleasant; they also make it hard to function in your normal daily life, and they interfere with your ability to accomplish goals.

It is important to note that no emotion, including a negative one, is inherently bad. It’s perfectly normal to feel these things in certain contexts or situations. These emotions become problematic when they are persistent and interfere with your ability to live your life normally.

Everyone feels negative emotions from time to time, but in some cases, these feelings can be a sign of a mental health condition such as depression or anxiety.

This article discusses the different types of negative emotions and what causes them. It also explores unhealthy ways of coping as well as some healthier ways of dealing with difficult emotions.

Types of Negative Emotions

There are a number of different feelings that are often identified as negative emotions. While such feelings are often a normal reaction to certain experiences or events, they tend to be distressing and unpleasant. Some common types of negative emotions include:

Negative emotions can stem from a wide variety of sources. Sometimes they are the result of specific experiences or events. For example, you might feel upset that your favorite team didn’t win a game or angry that your partner was late for a scheduled date.

Negative emotions can also arise from:

RecapNegative emotions can be short-term reactions to the events that happen in your life, or they may stem from other underlying issues including unmet needs, relationship problems, or poor coping skills.

Recap

Negative emotions can be short-term reactions to the events that happen in your life, or they may stem from other underlying issues including unmet needs, relationship problems, or poor coping skills.

Unfortunately, people often turn to unhelpful or even destructive ways of coping with negative emotions. While these might provide temporary relief, they typically make problems worse in the long run.

Ignoring Emotions

Ignoring feelings (like “stuffing your anger”) is not the healthiest way to deal with them. Generally speaking, it does not make them disappear, but can instead cause them to come out differently(so, you might yell at your child when you’re really upset about a situation at work).

Negative emotions signal that what you are doing in your life isn’t working. So when you ignore them, you can’t make any changes, and you continue to experience negative feelings.

Ruminating on Emotions

Ruminationinvolves dwelling on anger, resentment, and other uncomfortable feelings. This amplifies negative emotions, but it also brings health consequences.So it’s essential to listen to your feelings and then take steps to let them go.

Withdrawal or Avoidance

When something is distressing, you might find yourself trying to avoid it so that you don’t have to experience those unpleasant emotions. If a person or situation causes you anxiety, for example, you might take steps to avoid those triggers. The problem is thatavoidance copingmakes negative emotions worse in the long run.

Destructive or Risky Behaviors

If you don’t deal with the emotions you are feeling, they can cause problems with physical and emotional health.This is particularly true if you rely on risky behaviors such as substance use or self-harm to cope with distressing emotions.

How to Cope With Negative Emotions

Fortunately, there are more productive ways to deal with difficult emotions. These strategies can help you cope while also improving your ability to regulate your emotions.

Understand Your Emotions

Look within and pinpoint the situations creating stress and negative emotions in your life. Looking at the source of the feeling and your reaction can provide valuable information.

Negative emotions can come from a triggering event, such as an overwhelming workload. Your thoughts surrounding an event also play a role. The way that you interpret what happened can alter how you experience the event and whether or not it causes stress.

A keypurpose of your emotionsis to get you to see the problem so you can make necessary changes.

Change What You Can

Once you better understand your emotions and what is causing them, you can start taking steps to address the problem. Minimizing or eliminating some of your stress triggers may make you feel negative emotions less frequently.

Some ways that you might accomplish this include

Not every source of stress can be changed or eliminated. It is essential to avoid ruminating about what you can’t change and focus on what’s within your control.

Find an Outlet

Making changes in your life can cut down on negative emotions, but it won’t eliminate your stress triggers. As you make changes in your life to bring aboutless frustration, you will also need to find healthful outlets for dealing with these emotions.

Remember that everyone’s needs and abilities are different. The key is often to try a few other methods to find what works for you and your situation. Once you have found techniques that are right for you, you’ll feel less overwhelmed when negative emotions arise.

Accept Your Emotions

Learning to accept negative emotions is also an effective way of managing these difficult feelings. Acceptance means acknowledging that we are feeling afraid, angry, sad, or frustrated. Instead of trying to avoid or suppress these feelings, you allow them to exist without dwelling on them.

RecapWhen you accept your emotions, you stop trying to minimize or suppress them. Instead, you acknowledge they exist but recognize that these feelings are temporary and cannot harm you.

When you accept your emotions, you stop trying to minimize or suppress them. Instead, you acknowledge they exist but recognize that these feelings are temporary and cannot harm you.

How Accepting Difficult Emotions Can Improve Emotional Health

A Word From Verywell

Even if you tend to have a positive outlook, negative emotions will happen. Knowing how to manage these responses can help you feel better in the moment and the future.

Research has shown that tactics like suppressing your emotions are ineffective and can even be harmful.So instead of trying to ignore your feelings, finding ways to understand, accept, and reframe your emotions is often more helpful.

Negative emotions are normal and even expected. The goal isn’t to repress these feelings but to find healthier ways of regulating them. Building these coping skills can lead to greater emotionalresilienceand well-being.

Stress Management Resources You Can Really Use

Frequently Asked QuestionsNegative emotions can contribute to chronic stress. Thisprolonged stressis linked to a wide range of detrimental health effects, including reduced immunity, cardiovascular problems, anxiety, and depression. It has also been linked to conditions including diabetes, hyperthyroidism, ulcers, and irritable bowel syndrome.Smiling, whether it is genuine or forced, can have a positive impact on your mood and well-being. One study found that even a fake, forced smile was helpful for reducing feelings of stress.And evidence also suggests that consciously making yourself smile can elevate your mood and trick your mind into experiencing more positive emotions.

Negative emotions can contribute to chronic stress. Thisprolonged stressis linked to a wide range of detrimental health effects, including reduced immunity, cardiovascular problems, anxiety, and depression. It has also been linked to conditions including diabetes, hyperthyroidism, ulcers, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Smiling, whether it is genuine or forced, can have a positive impact on your mood and well-being. One study found that even a fake, forced smile was helpful for reducing feelings of stress.And evidence also suggests that consciously making yourself smile can elevate your mood and trick your mind into experiencing more positive emotions.

How to Deal With Negative Emotions

10 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.APA Dictionary of Psychology.Negative emotion. American Psychological Association.Quartana PJ, Burns JW.Painful consequences of anger suppression.Emotion. 2007;7(2):400-14. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.400Ray RD, Wilhelm FH, Gross JJ.All in the mind’s eye? Anger rumination and reappraisal.J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008;94(1):133-45. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.133Chapman BP, Fiscella K, Kawachi I, Duberstein P, Muennig P.Emotion suppression and mortality risk over a 12-year follow-up.J Psychosom Res. 2013;75(4):381-5. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2013.07.014Ciharova M, Furukawa TA, Efthimiou O, et al.Cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of adult depression: A network meta-analysis.J Consult Clin Psychol. 2021;89(6):563-574. doi:10.1037/ccp0000654Hu S, Tucker L, Wu C, Yang L.Beneficial effects of exercise on depression and anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic: A narrative review.Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:587557. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.587557Hirano M, Yukawa S.[The impact of mindfulness meditation on anger].Shinrigaku Kenkyu. 2013;84(2):93-102. doi:10.4992/jjpsy.84.93American Psychological Association.Stress effects on the body.Kraft TL, Pressman SD.Grin and bear it: The influence of manipulated facial expression on the stress response.Psychol Sci. 2012;23(11):1372-1378. doi:10.1177/0956797612445312Marmolejo-Ramos F, Murata A, Sasaki K, et al.Your face and moves seem happier when I smile: Facial action influences the perception of emotional faces and biological motion stimuli.Exp Psychol. 2020;67(1):14-22. doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000470

10 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.APA Dictionary of Psychology.Negative emotion. American Psychological Association.Quartana PJ, Burns JW.Painful consequences of anger suppression.Emotion. 2007;7(2):400-14. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.400Ray RD, Wilhelm FH, Gross JJ.All in the mind’s eye? Anger rumination and reappraisal.J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008;94(1):133-45. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.133Chapman BP, Fiscella K, Kawachi I, Duberstein P, Muennig P.Emotion suppression and mortality risk over a 12-year follow-up.J Psychosom Res. 2013;75(4):381-5. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2013.07.014Ciharova M, Furukawa TA, Efthimiou O, et al.Cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of adult depression: A network meta-analysis.J Consult Clin Psychol. 2021;89(6):563-574. doi:10.1037/ccp0000654Hu S, Tucker L, Wu C, Yang L.Beneficial effects of exercise on depression and anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic: A narrative review.Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:587557. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.587557Hirano M, Yukawa S.[The impact of mindfulness meditation on anger].Shinrigaku Kenkyu. 2013;84(2):93-102. doi:10.4992/jjpsy.84.93American Psychological Association.Stress effects on the body.Kraft TL, Pressman SD.Grin and bear it: The influence of manipulated facial expression on the stress response.Psychol Sci. 2012;23(11):1372-1378. doi:10.1177/0956797612445312Marmolejo-Ramos F, Murata A, Sasaki K, et al.Your face and moves seem happier when I smile: Facial action influences the perception of emotional faces and biological motion stimuli.Exp Psychol. 2020;67(1):14-22. doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000470

APA Dictionary of Psychology.Negative emotion. American Psychological Association.Quartana PJ, Burns JW.Painful consequences of anger suppression.Emotion. 2007;7(2):400-14. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.400Ray RD, Wilhelm FH, Gross JJ.All in the mind’s eye? Anger rumination and reappraisal.J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008;94(1):133-45. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.133Chapman BP, Fiscella K, Kawachi I, Duberstein P, Muennig P.Emotion suppression and mortality risk over a 12-year follow-up.J Psychosom Res. 2013;75(4):381-5. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2013.07.014Ciharova M, Furukawa TA, Efthimiou O, et al.Cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of adult depression: A network meta-analysis.J Consult Clin Psychol. 2021;89(6):563-574. doi:10.1037/ccp0000654Hu S, Tucker L, Wu C, Yang L.Beneficial effects of exercise on depression and anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic: A narrative review.Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:587557. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.587557Hirano M, Yukawa S.[The impact of mindfulness meditation on anger].Shinrigaku Kenkyu. 2013;84(2):93-102. doi:10.4992/jjpsy.84.93American Psychological Association.Stress effects on the body.Kraft TL, Pressman SD.Grin and bear it: The influence of manipulated facial expression on the stress response.Psychol Sci. 2012;23(11):1372-1378. doi:10.1177/0956797612445312Marmolejo-Ramos F, Murata A, Sasaki K, et al.Your face and moves seem happier when I smile: Facial action influences the perception of emotional faces and biological motion stimuli.Exp Psychol. 2020;67(1):14-22. doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000470

APA Dictionary of Psychology.Negative emotion. American Psychological Association.

Quartana PJ, Burns JW.Painful consequences of anger suppression.Emotion. 2007;7(2):400-14. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.400

Ray RD, Wilhelm FH, Gross JJ.All in the mind’s eye? Anger rumination and reappraisal.J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008;94(1):133-45. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.133

Chapman BP, Fiscella K, Kawachi I, Duberstein P, Muennig P.Emotion suppression and mortality risk over a 12-year follow-up.J Psychosom Res. 2013;75(4):381-5. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2013.07.014

Ciharova M, Furukawa TA, Efthimiou O, et al.Cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of adult depression: A network meta-analysis.J Consult Clin Psychol. 2021;89(6):563-574. doi:10.1037/ccp0000654

Hu S, Tucker L, Wu C, Yang L.Beneficial effects of exercise on depression and anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic: A narrative review.Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:587557. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.587557

Hirano M, Yukawa S.[The impact of mindfulness meditation on anger].Shinrigaku Kenkyu. 2013;84(2):93-102. doi:10.4992/jjpsy.84.93

American Psychological Association.Stress effects on the body.

Kraft TL, Pressman SD.Grin and bear it: The influence of manipulated facial expression on the stress response.Psychol Sci. 2012;23(11):1372-1378. doi:10.1177/0956797612445312

Marmolejo-Ramos F, Murata A, Sasaki K, et al.Your face and moves seem happier when I smile: Facial action influences the perception of emotional faces and biological motion stimuli.Exp Psychol. 2020;67(1):14-22. doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000470

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Types of Negative Emotions#

Recap#

Ignoring Emotions#

Ruminating on Emotions#

Withdrawal or Avoidance#

Destructive or Risky Behaviors#

How to Cope With Negative Emotions#

Understand Your Emotions#

Change What You Can#

Find an Outlet#

Accept Your Emotions#

A Word From Verywell#