Why Emotional Dysregulation is More Common Than You Think, and What You Can Do About It
- Brainz Magazine
- Jul 13
- 5 min read
Written by Sheila Marina, Energy Healer
Sheila Marina is an Energy Healer and the founder of Planet of Peace Energy Healing, a holistic practice offering emotional release and energy healing. With over 35 years of experience, she helps others restore balance through The Emotion Code, mind-body techniques, and compassionate leadership.
Have you ever felt like your reactions were "too much," like your tears came too fast, your anger flared too quickly, or your silence swallowed what you truly wanted to say? Emotional dysregulation is more common than we think, especially when we're taught to push through, keep smiling, and stay productive, even when our nervous system is quietly overwhelmed. Many of us have been conditioned to suppress our feelings, manage stress silently, and appear “fine” no matter what we're holding inside.
Beneath the surface, our bodies are doing their best to cope with an overload they were never designed to carry alone.
This article explores what emotional dysregulation really is, how it shows up in daily life, and what healing can look like, especially when we consider the hidden role of trapped emotions. You'll also learn how gentle tools like The Emotion Code, Reiki, and energy work can help restore emotional balance from the inside out.
What emotional dysregulation really is
Emotional dysregulation is often misunderstood as "overreacting" or being too sensitive. In truth, it's a nervous system response, one shaped by past experiences, unprocessed emotions, and the invisible weight of everything we've had to hold inside.
At its core, emotional dysregulation happens when the body struggles to return to a calm, balanced state after stress or emotional activation. It's a sign that your internal system has been stretched beyond its capacity too many times, often without the space or safety to fully
recover.
In a dysregulated state, the body is primed for defense. This can affect everything: how we show up in relationships, how we make decisions, how we view ourselves, and how deeply we can rest.
Here’s the most important part: emotional dysregulation can be treated. The nervous system is incredibly adaptive. With the right support, awareness, and practices, it can learn to soften, recalibrate, and rewire toward safety and calm. Healing begins with gentle curiosity-listening for the places where your body still feels the need to protect.
How does it show up in real life
Emotional dysregulation doesn't always look like chaos or breakdown. In many cases, it's far more subtle, woven into the small, everyday moments where we feel overwhelmed, misunderstood, or emotionally distant from ourselves and others.
Some people become highly reactive, easily triggered, quick to anger, or constantly on edge. Others turn inward, retreating into silence, detachment, or emotional numbness. Many cycle between both. Emotional dysregulation can also appear as chronic people-pleasing, difficulty setting boundaries, or an inability to say what you truly need.
And yet, beneath all of this is intelligence. These patterns formed for a reason. They were ways the nervous system tried to keep you safe when life felt unpredictable or unkind.
When we begin to understand our responses through this lens of compassion, everything shifts. We move from judging ourselves to gently witnessing our experience. And in that witnessing, we begin to create space for healing, for choice, for new patterns to emerge.
How trapped emotions play a role
Trapped emotions are unprocessed emotional energies that are too overwhelming to fully feel or express in the moment. When the body doesn't feel safe enough to process an experience, it may tuck that energy away into the muscles, the fascia, the organs, or the energy field around the body. These hidden emotions linger in the background, subtly influencing how we think, feel, and respond to life.
This concept is central to Dr. Bradley Nelson’s work with The Emotion Code, a method that helps identify and release these trapped emotional energies. Through years of working with clients, I've seen firsthand how releasing even a single trapped emotion can create noticeable shifts in nervous system balance, emotional clarity, and physical ease.
These energies often act like emotional filters. They color our perceptions, heighten our reactivity, and make it harder for the nervous system to return to calm after stress. Over time, they can even contribute to patterns of dysregulation that seem to have no clear origin.
The good news is: these emotional energies can be gently released. And when they are, the nervous system often responds with a sigh of relief. There's more space. More breath. More room to choose, rather than react.
What healing can look like
Healing emotional dysregulation means your body gradually learns how to return to balance with greater ease and less fear. It means building a new relationship with your inner world, one rooted in compassion, curiosity, and choice.
For some, healing begins the moment they realize their reactions make sense. That they're not "too much" or "too sensitive"-they're simply carrying emotions that were never safely witnessed. For others, the shift comes slowly, over time, as they create daily rituals of nervous system care: breathwork, energy healing, gentle movement, rest, and nourishing connection.
Clients I've worked with often describe healing as a series of soft awakenings. They notice they don't react as quickly. That they sleep more deeply. That they pause and breathe where once they would have panicked. One client said, "I got more equipped to meet life with peace."
Tools like The Emotion Code, Reiki, Belief Code, and other intuitive modalities gently support this process. They help us locate the trapped emotions we've unknowingly carried and offer the body a safe way to release them, without reliving the pain. This creates more internal spaciousness and allows the body's natural rhythm to return.
Healing simply asks for presence. For the willingness to meet yourself in the moment you're in, and to offer kindness where there used to be judgment.
Closing & encouragement
If you've ever felt like your emotions were "too much," or your reactions didn't make sense, let this be a gentle reminder: there is always a reason. And more importantly, there is always a path forward.
Emotional dysregulation is an invitation to slow down, to listen inward, and to honor the parts of you that learned how to protect you in times of overwhelm.
At Planet of Peace, I support individuals around the world in releasing trapped emotions and restoring emotional balance. Through The Emotion Code, Reiki, Belief Code, and other intuitive methods, each session becomes a sanctuary-where the nervous system can exhale, and the heart can come home to itself.
If this message resonates with you, I warmly invite you to connect with me here. Sessions are offered virtually and personalized with care.
Your body remembers how to heal. And you are worthy of the peace you're seeking. Together, we can help it feel safe enough to begin.
Read more from Sheila Marina
Sheila Marina, Energy Healer
Sheila Marina is an Energy Healer with over three decades of experience guiding others toward emotional freedom and inner peace. Rooted in 35 years of service in child and family support, she founded Planet of Peace Energy Healing, a sanctuary for healing, release, and renewal. Blending The Emotion Code, Body Code, Belief Code, and Reiki, Sheila offers a path to transformation that honors both the wisdom of the body and the whispers of the soul. A former Area Director with Toastmasters and Group Facilitator with Sashbear.org, she brings a compassionate presence to every step of the healing journey. Her mission is to help others reconnect with their truth and move forward with clarity, peace, and purpose.
