Emotion Regulation Systems: A Transdiagnostic Method for Psychotherapy and Beyond

We introduce emotion regulation (ER) systems as particular goal systems that use sets of ER and meta-emotion-regulation (MER) strategies, tactics, and behaviors as means for reaching an individual’s approach and avoidance goals. These goals can be connected to higher-level goals like basic needs or values that may serve an overall emotional well-being. As every psychotherapeutic method can be seen as ER or MER, as we will argue, and every psychotherapy comprises some set of goals for the specific patient, ER systems can be regarded as a transdiagnostic and transtheoretical method for psychotherapy. We will illustrate how one could potentially build and apply ER systems dynamically in practice. ER systems may help promote endeavors toward a unified psychotherapy that cuts across mental disorders and psychotherapy schools. Through their unifying and complexity-reducing nature, they may also be promising building blocks of prevention programs for subclinical populations across ages.