Many people who have emotional dysregulation can learn to manage its effects. But treatments can make learning to manage them easier.
The main forms of treatment are:
- Psychotherapy. Also known as mental health therapy, this treatment involves working with a mental health professional. They can help you understand how and why you experience emotional dysregulation. A key part of psychotherapy is learning coping skills and strategies that can help you prevent the more severe effects of emotional dysregulation.
- Medications. These can help make it easier for you to manage emotions. How they do this depends on the medication itself, the condition it’s treating and more.
- Supportive and symptomatic care. These involve treating the underlying conditions or factors causing or contributing to emotional dysregulation. For example, concussions aren’t directly treatable. However, treating the symptoms of concussion can ease and speed up recovery. As a person recovers, their emotional dysregulation will improve and even go away (unless they had it before the concussion).
In the most severe cases, people with emotional dysregulation may become aggressive or violent because of difficulties controlling their emotions. Some may engage in self-harm or suicidal behaviors. Others may behave recklessly or in a way that puts them at risk for serious injuries or death.
Emotional dysregulation that involves aggressive or violent behavior can also lead to possible legal repercussions. That includes encounters with law enforcement, arrest or criminal charges.
