LAUSR

461 pulsive behaviors when distressed; and engaging in goal-directed behaviors when distressed. Not only are scores on the DERS significantly associated with numerous clinically relevant behaviors (e.g., self-injury, binge eating, substance use) and psychiatric disorders (e.g., borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders), but extensive research also demonstrates that the DERS is sensitive to change following psychological treatments and can be used to track progress in emotion regulation over the course of treatment. Moreover, although its self-report format increases its feasibility and ease of administration, the DERS is significantly associated with behavioral, neurological and physiological measures of emotion regulation. Beyond established self-report measures such as the DERS, clinicians can use behavioral techniques such as functional analysis to assess individuals’ responses to their emotions, including their acceptance and understanding of these emotions, how these emotions inform their behaviors (effectively or ineffectively), and the immediate and long-term emotional, cognitive, behavioral and interpersonal consequences of these responses. Repeated functional analyses with a patient may also increase insight into the functions of and motives for the selection and use of particular modulation strategies across different contexts, as well as highlight instances of emotion regulation inflexibility that can be targeted in treatment. Although the term “emotion regulation” can imply that emotions require or need modification or modulation, we propose that the modulation of emotions is only one aspect of adaptive emotion regulation, and that effective emotion modulation requires emotional acceptance and understanding. In contrast, a singular emphasis on the modification or modulation of emotions obscures the fact that emotions serve important and necessary functions.