Transforming Emotion

Starting from the position that there is no universal story of emotion necessarily acceptable to all cultures, and that we cannot assume a common language of emotion that accurately transfers meanings and experiences between people, this volume approaches emotion as the story people weave of physical sensation, display, and judgements through multi-layered contexts of their relationships and cultures.

Emotion stories are seen as intricately woven with stories of identity, therefore having implications for how people perceive their moral worth. Within a framework informed by communication theories, social constructionism, and systemic and narrative therapies, Glenda Fredman offers a repertoire of possibilities to talk about feelings, share understanding, and transform emotion.

Using her personal stories, transcripts of conversations, and case vignettes to speak the theory, she shows how paying careful attention to each person’s emotional language rules and theories can avoid coercion, undermining, isolating, or creating an impasse between the people involved.