Health · Mental Health · 5 hrs ago
Review finds emotion regulation is part of why therapy works
A team of researchers in Sweden reviewed 62 studies of therapy for problems including anxiety, depression and self-harm.
They found that better emotion regulation helped explain therapy’s effects about half the time.
Emotion regulation means noticing feelings and choosing how to respond, including coping with stress.
When therapy taught these skills directly using an established framework, the link appeared in about eight out of 10 studies.
The review cannot show whether people learned the skills before they began to improve, and most participants were adults.
Research involving young people also suggests coping skills can improve alongside mental health, including in prevention programs for children at risk.
The review’s practical message is to teach and practise coping skills deliberately, with families, schools and communities using shared strategies.
A review of 62 studies found that improved emotion regulation was part of why therapy worked about half the time.
The connection appeared about 8 out of 10 times when interventions taught emotion regulation directly using an established framework.
Therapies with other focuses also appeared to work partly by building emotion regulation skills.
Most studies could not establish whether emotion regulation improved before people’s symptoms did.
Only 10 of the 62 studies included children or teenagers, and most participants were adults.
- Who
- A team of researchers in Sweden reviewed studies of therapy.
- What
- The review found that improved emotion regulation was part of why therapy worked in about half the cases studied.
- When
- The review was described in an article published on October 23, 2026. The studies’ dates are not stated.
- Where
- The researchers were in Sweden; the locations of the studies are not stated.
- Why
- The researchers examined whether therapy works partly by helping people handle their emotions.
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- Studies reviewed
- 62
- Emotion regulation linked to therapy working
- About half the time
- Directly taught using an established framework
- About 8 out of 10 times
- Studies including children or teenagers
- 10 of 62
- Article published
- October 23, 2026