Chapter 1 14 quickly from that point, however. In 1995, there were already 671 publications that contained the phrase “emotion regulation” [18]. In April 2021, a quick search on PsycINFO yields no less than 18,148(!) hits on publications containing the phrase. Although defining what emotion regulation exactly entails has also proven a daunting task, the renowned emotion researcher James Gross has put forward a definition that is generally accepted throughout the field. According to Gross [8]: “Emotion regulation refers to the processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions. Emotion regulatory processes may be automatic or controlled, conscious or unconscious, and may have their effects at one or more points in the emotion generative process.” According to Gross, as well as other contemporary researchers, emotional awareness constitutes one of the main factors of emotion regulation [18, 36-38]. With the inclusion of ‘awareness’ of the emotion as part of the regulation process, in a way we have basically returned to ‘square one’. Apparently, if we - both on an individual and academic level - want to know what an emotion is, we need to be able to regulate the emotion so we can investigate it. However, in order to regulate our emotions, we first need to be aware of them. Awareness of emotions proves to be a powerful support for adaptive emotion regulation [39]. Although emotion regulation may be either explicit or implicit, emotional awareness plays a crucial role as it enhances both the range of available strategies and the flexibility with which one uses them [19, 36, 40-42]. Without emotional awareness, it is simply much more difficult to engage sophisticated emotion-regulation strategies, and strategies that are available are expected to be much less effective [18, 19]. 1.3 Emotional awareness, emotion regulation and borderline personality pathology Both problems of emotion regulation and awareness are highly prevalent in psychopathology. The psychological disorder most infamous for being associated with severe problems in emotion regulation is probably borderline personality disorder (BPD). Patients with the disorder and the people surrounding them can usually attest that BPD impacts all domains of life. BPD is characterized by a pervasive pattern of unstable relations, a distorted self-image, and - as mentioned - profound difficulties in regulation of one’s emotions [43-45]. Self-harming behaviours are common [46-48]. As with many mental health disorders, BPD is a very heterogeneous category with patients varying in severity of the disorder, their personality profiles, issues of co-morbidity, age and so on [48]. Contemporary clinical
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