Emotional Control

Causes of Losing Emotional Control

On entering adolescence, children show emotional reactions of varying degrees, or behavior that can be hard to understand. This is because, as children grow, they learn, experience, and think about more and more, and along the way they encounter many things that are hard to understand. Add the pressure of schoolwork and the pressures of their surrounding environment, and — not yet knowing how to relieve stress — they can often only express their feelings by venting their emotions. At this point, parents and teachers should show more care and observe every aspect of their children’s and students’ situation. They should take effective measures to guide them in good time, or ask professionals to help, so that the children can walk out of their negative emotions.

Say no to out-of-control emotions — become their master.

Comprehensive EEG Analysis of Emotional Loss of Control

Among human brainwaves, the alpha wave (8–12 Hz), the SMR wave (12–15 Hz), and Hβ (18–36 Hz) are closely related to the ability to control emotions. The brainwave patterns of impaired nervous-system regulation are mostly seen as poor stability of the alpha and SMR waves, insufficient EEG power density, and excessive Hβ power density. In the nervous system, the alpha wave can usually represent a person’s capacity for steady, calm regulation.

The SMR wave is a person’s basic rhythmic capacity — the ability to keep behavior and activity well-paced; excessive Hβ intensity indicates neural activity that is prone to impulsiveness, hyperactivity, temper, tension and anxiety, and also to problems such as fatigue.

As far as emotional regulation is concerned, put simply, the activity states of the alpha wave and Hβ determine whether a person is prone to episodes of irritability and anger, while the SMR wave determines whether, in the early moments after one’s emotions are ignited, they can be effectively restrained and calmed.

Solutions for Emotional Loss of Control

• Raise conscious awareness of your emotions, control emotional lows, keep an optimistic outlook, and continually practice self-encouragement and self-improvement.
• For habitual problems in children caused by over-indulgence, start from the family side, with the mentor and the parents working together.
• Hot-tempered children usually show endocrine imbalance; they can be tested for neurotransmitters at a neurological hospital, and severe cases can be adjusted with medication.
• Improve sleep: much poor functioning of the nervous system is related to sleep, and cultivating good sleep helps improve the nervous system’s regulatory capacity.
• Increase exercise: using scientific methods to regulate the body’s dopamine and adrenaline is beneficial to emotional improvement.
• Use EEG-biofeedback training to fundamentally address the functioning capacity of the child’s nervous system.
• Managing emotions is not about eliminating or suppressing them, but about adjusting the way emotions are expressed once you have become aware of them.

Online Assessment of Emotional Self-Control

A 15-question self-assessment of how aware you are of your own emotions — for example: do you know what is making you agitated? How do you react when startled? How do you feel when treated unfairly?

Please note: you are asked to record your own true thoughts and behavior, not to pick the most correct answer; there is no good or bad among the options. Do not try to guess which answer is “right” or which is “wrong,” or the test results will be distorted.

Mental Health Assessment for Primary School Students

A 40-item self-assessment covering signs such as restlessness, sleep problems, study-related irritability, difficulty concentrating, low mood, anxiety before exams, fear of failure, social fears, compulsive checking, and other emotional and mental-health indicators. Each item is rated Often, Occasionally, or Never.

Children’s EQ Test

A children’s EQ test made up of ten sub-tests, each a short yes/no questionnaire:

1. Children’s fear test
2. Self-evaluation ability
3. Ability to experience one’s own emotions
4. Self-confidence
5. Procrastination
6. Pre-exam anxiety
7. Introversion and extroversion
8. Ability to adapt to new environments
9. Sense of responsibility
10. Self-control ability