Naming the feeling seems to take some of the heat out of it.
A brain-imaging study found that labelling an emotion in words was linked to calmer activity in the amygdala, the brain's threat-detection region.
Study title: Putting a Feeling Into Words May Quiet the Brain's Alarm System — Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M., Psychological Science, 2007
- Study type
- Experimental study
- Population
- 30 adults (18 in the main labelling analysis), community/student sample, USA
- Published
- 2007
- Evidence confidence
- Moderate confidence
The short version
In a brain-imaging study, putting an emotion into words was associated with reduced activity in the amygdala and increased activity in a region involved in language and control. The authors read this as language-based processing dampening automatic emotional reactivity.
Why it matters
It is a small argument for specificity: 'I'm anxious about the meeting' may do something that 'I'm fine' does not.
What this doesn't mean
It does not mean naming a feeling fixes it, or that a brain-imaging result in a small group predicts how a particular hard day will go for you.
01
The question
02
How it was studied
03
What they found
04
Limitations
05
What it may mean
In real life
In real life that might mean the difference between sitting with a vague, swelling sense of dread and pausing to say (out loud or on paper) 'I'm anxious about the meeting tomorrow.' The situation hasn't changed, but naming it precisely may take some of the charge out of it.
Try this
Next time a feeling is running high, try naming it in one specific sentence — not 'I'm stressed' but 'I'm annoyed that I wasn't consulted' — before deciding what to do about it.
Evidence confidence
Moderate confidence
This is a single, small, frequently-replicated-in-spirit experiment rather than a large meta-analysis; later work has broadly supported the effect but sample sizes in this literature remain modest.
Source
Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting a Feeling Into Words May Quiet the Brain's Alarm System. Psychological Science.
Peer-reviewed · Free full text available · Last reviewed 2026-08-14
Read the original research →One study isn't the whole storyOne study gives us a piece of the picture. Selfey looks for patterns across the broader evidence rather than treating a single finding as a rule.
Read this in everyday terms
Naming an Emotion Changes It — Here's the EvidenceSelfey research briefs are educational summaries, not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Research describes patterns across groups; it cannot tell you what is right for your situation.
Related research
- MindGiving a Feeling a Name Can Make It SmallerPutting a feeling into words, instead of just having it swirl around inside you, is linked to that feeling calming down a bit.
- MindAn Eight-Week Self-Compassion Course Was Linked to Lasting Gains in WellbeingAn eight-week self-compassion training program was linked to lasting increases in wellbeing and drops in stress in a randomised trial.
- MindWhy Being Able to Adapt Your Response Matters More Than Feeling GoodFlexibly adapting your response to circumstances, rather than just minimising negative emotion, is repeatedly linked to better mental health.