The importance of self regulation has become a prolific research field in neuroscience and a fundamental construct of psychological thought. One of the main consequences of early traumas, both from shock and relational, is represented by the lack of both emotional and physiological self-regulation, impacting on the self-regulation of the autonomic nervous system.

The trauma compromises our ability to regulate emotions and interferes with physiological functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, sleep, digestion, etc.

To put it in the simplest way, self regulation means the possibility of resting when we are tired, and the possibility of finding healthy ways to get rid of stress when it accumulates in the body.

Emotional dysregulation, dealing with emotions

The regulation of affects has to do with how we manage our emotions: how we deal with sadness, anger, excitement, challenges, fear and joy. The signals of emotional dysregulation are mainly linked to the inability to perceive and feel our emotions and our body. Often then we are overwhelmed by our emotions, or we feel that something always remains unresolved, compressed or unexpressed.

It is essential for our well-being to be able to manage both our positive and negative emotions, both the powerful ones like anger, and the difficult ones like sadness, anxiety or depression. When this fails we can say that we are in a state of dysregulation.

Anxious states, panic attacks, compulsive behaviors, depression, addictions, eating disorders, difficulty sleeping, etc. are some of the most common signs of dysregulation.

At the beginning of life it is the connection with the mother, with the mother's body, that functions as a regulator of the nervous system and the body of the child . The ability to self-regulation is initially learned through the relationship with the mother. A healthy mother-child connection is essential in shaping development.

Every time a mother touches or caresses or comforts her child, she is regulating her nervous system: breaking the connection between the child and the mother is traumatizing and if the process of regulation between mother and child is interfered with, the child does not develop the basic skills for self-regulation.

The stability of this original connection is of particular importance in shaping the individual modes of relationship with the body, with the self, and with others and is an important tool in clinical practice, exploited especially in those psycho-corporeal disciplines, such as the Functional Analysis, which bases the effectiveness of their intervention on the body contact.

A compromised capacity for self-regulation can negatively affect the development of the person, creating continuous instability and making life a continuous struggle.

The dysregulation of affects is considered to be at the center of the marked vulnerability to stress and trauma, and seems to be a central element of physical and psychological problems.

There is a need to feel at ease in ourselves and in our body, to feel regulated, to be able to feel at ease in life. We need it so strong that when we are in a state of non-regulation we try at all costs to find the regulation we need.

People feel the need to smoke, because despite being harmful to health, cigarette smoking offers a form of regulation through nicotine.

The same for every behavior or substance that induces self-destructive habits of addiction, such as drugs, alcohol, sexuality, food, work. We therefore try to replace these harmful forms of self-regulation with healthier forms, bringing the body and contact back to the center.