Michelle Craske, a professor of psychology at UCLA and the senior author of the study says:
“The implication [of this research] is to encourage patients to label the emotional responses they are experiencing and label the characteristics of the stimuli — to verbalize their feelings. That lets people experience the very things they are afraid and say, ‘I feel scared and I’m here.’ They’re not trying to push it away and say it’s not so bad. Be in the moment and allow yourself to experience whatever you’re experiencing. “
This strategy is very similar to what Buddhists have been practicing for thousands of years. In mindfulness meditation, practitioners often make “mental notes” of the thoughts and emotions they are experiencing in the moment. This is believed to help individuals overcome these negative states by gaining greater awareness and insight.
These findings are also now backed by some neuroscience. There is a part of the brain called the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex that plays a major role in emotional regulation. Brain researchers have found that this part of the brain is active when we label our feelings and emotional reactions.