It can be said that we live in a rather emotionally handicapped world. While we’ve adapted to accommodate many of our physical and mental limitations, we’re still a bit in the dark about our emotions.

Perhaps it's because many of us have not been taught how to regulate and process our emotional signals very well, and so we may become confused, uncomfortable or even threatened when faced with our own feelings and those of others.

All too often, we distance, distract, or numb ourselves from our internal reality and have socially sanctioned frameworks for fleeing our discomfort instead of paying attention to the cues.

Our society is no stranger to addiction and many of us use a version of this maladapted coping mechanism at some point or other. Our addiction of choice may be food, drugs, tobacco, alcohol, exercise, hoarding, cutting, workaholism, tv, shopping, gambling, video games, social media, porn, sex, power, codependent relationships….

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We may even be addicted to a specific ‘cover’ emotion as an automatic response when under stress, going into anger, anxiety, depression, or denial, so as to keep from feeling a more 'off-limits' emotion (shame, rage, helplessness....)