55 Emotional Regulation Questions to Ask Clients in Therapy Sessions

Emotion regulation skills are commonly associated with therapeutic approaches such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and some trauma-informed therapies. The truth is that emotion regulation skills are an important life skill that can help our clients navigate their daily life, whether they’re living with a mental health disorder or a life challenge.

For many, emotion regulation skills are learned at a young age from those around us. Without having someone model healthy emotion regulation skills, children do not have the opportunity to develop these skills at a young age. This can increase their risk of struggling with their emotions and developing mental health disorders like depression and anxiety.

With that being said, it is never too late to learn effective emotion regulation skills. Once you have found skills that help your client, they can then apply these skills to various areas of their lives and the difficulties that they experience. Emotion regulation skills can be incorporated into therapy sessions with children, teens, adults, and older adults. They can be incorporated into individual and group therapy sessions, based on your client’s needs.

It is important that knowing about emotion regulation skills is not enough to experience the benefits. Clients need to actively use these skills in their everyday life to experience the benefits. You may find that a part of your work is exploring and addressing barriers they experience so they can then apply the skills they have learned. We encourage you to be mindful of your clients current resources and ensure that you’re focusing on emotion regulation skills that are realistic given their development and other life factors. 

Getting Ready for Your First Emotional Regulation Therapy Session with a New Client

Before meeting with a new client, it can be helpful to review the paperwork you have received so far. This can include referral paperwork, self-assessments or questionnaires, or an intake assessment, depending on the clinical setting you work in. These documents can highlight your client’s presenting concerns, helping you gain insights into what led to them seeking treatment.

 Based on the information you learned, you may have thoughts about topics that you could include in your first session, including helpful emotion regulation skills. Many clinicians find that worksheets can help guide your session and provide your client with information to take home. This can be helpful for clients who require additional time to take in the information they learned in the session.

TherapyByPro is a leading clinical resource for mental health professionals, offering various tools and products. These include emotion regulation worksheets that can be incorporated into your session. You may use these as an activity during the session or as a homework assignment outside the session, if appropriate.

 Examples of popular emotion regulation skills include:

• Emotion Regulation Worksheet Bundle
• Problem-Solving for Distress Worksheet
• DBT REST Technique Worksheet
• Challenging Negative Thoughts Worksheet
• Guided Body Scan Meditation Script

What Emotional Regulation Questions Should I Ask In Sessions?

There are various ways that you can incorporate emotion regulation questions into your sessions. They can be used to learn about your clients’ experiences, explore their current emotional difficulties, and their use of skills learned in earlier sessions. Examples of emotion regulation discussion questions you may use in a therapy session include:

1. Can you tell me about what brought you in today?
2. What do you feel would be the most impactful topic or concern to talk about today?
3. Are there specific emotions that you have a hard time coping with or managing?
4. What emotion do you feel is the most difficult for you to manage effectively?
5. Can you think of a time when you were able to cope with a challenging emotion?
6. What skills have helped you in the past to cope with difficult emotions?
7. Can you tell me about some strategies that have not helped you cope with emotions?
8. Can you tell me about your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors when you feel overwhelmed?
9. Can you recognize when you’re becoming overwhelmed, or does it catch you off guard?
10. How do you feel you are expressing your emotions to others?
11. Do you feel as though you’re able to recognize your emotional experiences as they arise?
12. Are there any emotions that you avoid?
13. Have you experienced any consequences of avoiding emotions?
14. Can you tell me about how you handle anger?
15. How do you cope with sadness and loneliness?
16. Do you feel as though you bottle up your emotions?
17. Has bottling up your emotions created any challenges for you?
18. What happens when you don’t address your emotional experiences for a prolonged period of time?
19. Can you tell me how you’re feeling at this moment?
20. Are there any physical changes in your body when you’re feeling angry?
21. Do you notice any changes in your body when you feel overwhelmed?
22. Can you think of any triggers that tend to lead to emotional difficulties?
23. How do you manage your known triggers?
24. Have you noticed any patterns in how your thoughts affect your feelings and behaviors?
25. Can you tell me about how you respond to stress?
26. How do you respond to success or compliments?
27. Can you tell me about healthy coping skills that work for you?
28. What coping skills have you tried before that weren’t too helpful?
29. Have you heard of anything that you’d like to learn more about? Like mindfulness practices or grounding skills?
30. What does self-soothing mean to you?
31. Can you tell me about the self-soothing skills you use?
32. What does self-care mean to you?
33. Can you tell me about your self-care practices?
34. What do you notice when you don’t engage in self-care practices regularly?
35. How do you feel about your ability to manage emotions that come up as a result of others?
36. Has your ability to manage your emotions impacted your relationships before?
37. Have you been able to work through the way your emotion regulation has impacted your relationships?
38. How do you feel your difficulties with emotion regulation affect your decision-making?
39. How do you feel that your emotions affect your physical health?
40. Do you feel as though your ability to manage your emotions affects your work (or academic) performance?
41. Can you tell me about a time when you were able to effectively manage an emotion?
42. How did you feel after you were able to navigate that emotion?
43. How do you show yourself kindness or compassion after experiencing emotional challenges?
44. What changes would you like to see in the way you respond to emotions?
45. How do you feel that your life would be different if you could cope with challenging emotions?
46. Are there any resources or supports that you feel would help you strengthen your emotion regulation skills?
47. What emotions do you feel would have the biggest impact on your functioning if you were able to better manage it?
48. If you woke up today with the ability to cope with difficult emotions, what would be different?
49. Can you tell me about your source of motivation for learning emotion regulation skills?
50. Can you tell me about your emotional experiences since our last session?
51. Was there a situation or trigger that you were able to cope well with?
52. Were there any moments since your last session that were challenging to navigate?
53. Can you tell me about how difficult emotions were handled in your home growing up?
54. Are there any emotions that you see those around you struggling with more than others?
55. Can you think of someone in your life who manages their emotions well? What have you observed them doing?

Final Thoughts On Asking the Right Emotional Regulation Questions in Sessions

Emotion regulation skills are a vital life skill that can have a significant impact on our clients daily life and overall level of functioning. This can be important to use with clients who are living with conditions like borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders. It can also help those who are struggling with intense emotional experiences after major life changes and milestones.

These skills can be used to increase a clients’ ability to manage stress, decreasing the presence of bottled-up emotions. Many find that this decreases impulsiveness during times of stress and anger, and allows them to communicate with others in a more effective way. How you incorporate emotion regulation skills into your clinical work is up to you! To learn about effective emotion regulation skills and related therapeutic approaches, look for training or continuing education opportunities within your clinical niche. 

View all of our Emotional Regulation Worksheets

Resources:

• Côté S, Gyurak A, Levenson RW. The ability to regulate emotion is associated with greater well-being, income, and socioeconomic status. Emotion. 2010 Dec;10(6):923-33. doi: 10.1037/a0021156. PMID: 21171762; PMCID: PMC4175372.