Thread: Taxonomy of emotion ?

Science branches into so many areas, are there any studies pertaining to what emotions really are and how they work ? If we can find antimatter then surely finding emotional taxonomy is not beyond our reach ?

Could a moderator remove this please ? Seems pointless to have a question hanging on the forum that no one is interested in.

Let it sit for a while, Max. Patients.
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Not that I've ever run across...but I do think emotions could be scored. Perhaps coming up with a labeling spectrum...

I'd like to see what the brain is doing physically while we are having particular emotions.

That's all the same direction of study, i think it's an important avenue for societal control as well as personal behaviour management.

i think it's an important avenue for societal control as well as personal behaviour management.

Wow, that takes it in a very 1984-ish direction.

Society has already moved in a 1984-ish direction.
There is a need for mood stabilisation in society, proven by medication.

...Hormones? (To answer the TS)

Originally Posted by Max Time Taken

Society has already moved in a 1984-ish direction.
There is a need for mood stabilisation in society, proven by medication.

FORCED medding of people?!?!? Are you advocating for that?

It needs to be studied throughout scale, from biology through chemistry physics etc. Behaviour through to element(s)/energy responsible.

Forced ? The best diet has all the things you need and none of what you don't, a perfect balance should not require force just a little experience.

Controlling emotion should not have to be forced it will be sought out, except in the criminally minded but they are forced by society as is.

If all distress were dealt with in a matter of moments rather than years of therapy needed, would we have as many criminals ?

anger and sadness are the only 2 true emotions.

love and empathy are drives not emotions.

then there are many 'feelings'.
boredom
confusion
etc...

Potential difference is all drive and emotion, the "particles" vary, control is of the essence.

Granpa:

anger and sadness are the only 2 true emotions.

love and empathy are drives not emotions.

Granpa:
-One, why, how and on what basis do you make this distinction?
-Two, why is it that feelings with a strong negative content seem more valid and real to you than ones that are positive?

Max time taken:
Potential difference is all drive and emotion, the "particles" vary, control is of the essence.

Emotion is one thing. Behavior is motivated by emotion, correlated even, but not controlled.
Why is it that you feel control of emotion is necessary?
For society to function, people must control their behavior. That is a somewhat different kettle of fish
At what point did you draw the conclusion that emotion is a dangerous, out-of-control affair?
Why do believe that to have a strong emotion is to act on it?

Understanding emotion and what it is made of can help to adjust criminals who have emotional imbalance.
Past experiences are often the cause for mental illness, some assistance with the emotional trauma can make valid citizens of people written off by society.
So many suffer depression, anxiety and other emotional problems that interfere with their work and social lives.
I myself am bi-polar, I know this is not entirely emotion based but some effective assistance with my emotions would be helpful.

It's not just the strength of emotion its the length of time subjected to emotion that damages, and/or causes one to act. Like in geology anything can be broken down with pressure and time.

I myself am bi-polar, I know this is not entirely emotion based but some effective assistance with my emotions would be helpful.

It's not just the strength of emotion its the length of time subjected to emotion that damages, and/or causes one to act. Like in geology anything can be broken down with pressure and time.

True.
Emotional regulation, the man said?
Well, for one, you could try jacking your mood stabilizer, which I assume you are on, or adding an antidepressant-a lot of bipolars need a LOW dose of antidepressant.
Key word, low.

Dialectical-behavioral-therapy is sort of the new therapeutic modality...originally developed and found useful to treat borderline personality disorder, it works for a lot of other people as well.

I am dinking my way through the following workbook, and am finding it effective:
Amazon.com: The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation & Distress Tolerance (9781458768612): Matthew Mckay: Books

Please note, nobody's paying me to endorse that book. I'm just telling you it's helping me. YMMV. I hope that this is allowed...because...
I have observed that the mental health system in the UK has very little access to DBT training
If you were not in the UK I'd tell you to go to a therapy group to learn DBT.

The UK mental health arm of the NHS kinda blows chunks in general.

Sorry. Ours on this side of the pond blows chunks too... only the chunks are different.

I note...I seem to remember reading somewhere that patients who take active ownership of thier treatment do better than those who passively wait to be serviced...I take active ownership, in fact I'm jolly well pushy about getting a med cocktail that works and getting help and all sorts of things.

I strongly recommend the same to anyone with mental health problems.
Also keeping a mood journal, so that you can know what day things started to go awry...and tell the doctor. Basically take at least basic notes on yourself, your psychiatrist is not following you around.

There was a big debate on the mental health forum I used to go to...well, kind of recurring...regarding forced treatment. There's two sides to this: One, a lot of people would be in electric looneyland if they were not forcibly medded...but at the same time antipsychotics and a few of the mood stabilizers have serious, even deadly side effects.

Besides the civil-liberty implications of taking away someone's rights without benefit of a trial or conviction...
I'm rather against forcible medding unless someone is a proven threat to self or others...and I'm vaguely iffy about a threat to self.

I've talked to people online who were profoundly depressed and nothing..including electroshock, was lifting the depression. They were in constant, horrible, unending agony.

Wow, I seem to be bumping into this subject all over the place...everywhere I go I see a red looneybin?
Apropos of nothing...straitjackets cost about $150.
Ah well, my spouse won't tie me up anyways, dangit.

As far as emotional regulation on a societal scale...large commercial interests seem interested in hyping us up in order to get us to buy things. Too, is mental wellbeing and happiness looked at as a goal for a society? Nah, it's all about money and productivity.
Never mind that adequate meeting of physical needs are only the precursor to happiness, not the happiness itself.

If emotional regulation is part chemistry and part discipline...well, the environs ain't that conducive, KWIM?

Well said random. You seem to have got it. It is the shit we are fed literally, and from media and others that affects emotion. Internal reactions require stimulus, if we can't change what affects us it would be nice to affect our reaction. I do adjust my mood stabiliser but if society had compassion instead of selfish passion we could move together instead of apart.
I am going to take a look at that book you suggested.

*Adjusting my meds is not much different from shutting the door after the horse has bolted. Reducing my mood stabiliser by one tablet on one night is sometimes enough to break depression cycle, anti depressants are definitely not the way forward for me, they give me motivation but do not change my mood - bad idea.

I am on max dose lithium and I still go hypomanic, better than manic I admit but, not a pleasant or safe experience for myself and those around me.*