The Radical Therapist The Radical Therapist #141 – Regulating Emotion, Regulating Selves with David Nylund
Jan 12, 2026
David Nylund, a social work professor and narrative therapy clinician, challenges the dominance of emotion regulation as a clinical and cultural norm. He explores how regulation can shape acceptable selves and silence responses to structural harm. The conversation questions neutral techniques, reframes anger in context, and calls for transparent, politically informed clinical practice.
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Emotion Regulation As A Dominant Moral Horizon
- Emotion regulation is not just a neutral clinical skill but a dominant moral horizon that shapes what counts as a healthy self.
- David Nylund argues critique matters because universalizing regulation stops questions about who benefits and what selves are produced.
Grounding Techniques Can Depoliticize Distress
- Teaching grounding techniques can depoliticize distress by framing it as an internal management problem rather than a response to structural violence.
- Zooming out shows neoliberalism succeeds when its demands appear as common sense, making coping into governance.
Emotions Circulate And Become Racialized
- Emotions circulate between bodies and institutions, attaching negative affects like anger to marginalized people more frequently.
- Nylund draws on Sara Ahmed to show anger/anxiety are racialized and pathologized when they surface in marginalized bodies.
