The “Thinking Threshold”: A therapeutic concept guided by emotion regulation flexibility
Cognitive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy with significant empirical support. However, it is also true that many people have difficultly using cognitive reappraisal—and any cognitive strategy that requires significant mental effort—while experiencing intense emotions. Per the tenants of emotion-regulation flexibility, we provide information on a therapeutic concept we call the “thinking threshold” which helps clients identify the level of emotional distress at which their thinking becomes impaired. When clients are above the “thinking threshold” they are guided to use behavioral and bodily-focused emotion regulation strategies, and to use cognitive reappraisal and problem solving when below the “thinking threshold.” In this paper, we outline the rationale for considering emotion-regulation flexibility with clients, identify why level of emotional intensity is an important context to consider when helping clients identify effective emotion regulation strategies, and review research supporting the notion that effortful cognitive strategies are less effective at high levels of emotional distress. We also describe how we teach clients to use the “thinking threshold” concept and provide a brief case study demonstrating the utility of the concept with a client. Finally, we review ways in which the “thinking threshold” could be tailored and adapted alongside acceptance-based approaches, and we describe future directions for both empirical examination of the “thinking threshold” as well as expansion within clinical practice.