It’s a skill to be able to put a name to different emotions, and it’s a skill that can help a client to better understand their own emotions. In this section, Rory and Ken discuss why developing an emotional vocabulary is important:

• Be able to name emotions and understand them.
• There are primary and secondary emotions.
• Learn how to regulate your emotions.
• Be able to go beyond the words happy, sad, angry, etc.
• There are different levels to emotions e.g. are you just happy? Or are you ecstatic?
• Recognising and seeing a client’s emotions can completely change the energy of the session.
• As the counsellor, we can maybe put a name to an emotion that the client was struggling to identify.
• This can take trust within the therapeutic relationship to the next level.
• There is a condition called alexithymia, where someone might have a problem with interpreting or actually feeling emotions.
• Certain emotions might be deemed acceptable, while others are unacceptable – has your client been told they should suppress some emotions?
• Let the client know they can express their emotions in the room with you – it’s acceptable for them to experience these emotions.