Inspiration from the Couch

EP 101: Disappointment

March 14, 2024 Avery Hoenig, PhD, Jamie Wilson, PhD, and Lucy Smith, PhD Season 1 Episode 101
EP 101: Disappointment
Inspiration from the Couch
More Info
Inspiration from the Couch
EP 101: Disappointment
Mar 14, 2024 Season 1 Episode 101
Avery Hoenig, PhD, Jamie Wilson, PhD, and Lucy Smith, PhD

In today’s episode, we focus on disappointment, a feeling most of us don’t name or talk about enough. We explore what makes disappointment a harder emotion to acknowledge, highlighting the tendency to quickly detour to anger, judgment, shame, or embarrassment. We discuss our own experiences with disappointment. We talk about how disappointment often presents, including the thoughts, feelings, and body sensations that tend to accompany it. We notice that there’s power in being able to name our disappointment – the trick is in letting disappointment coexist with other, often contradictory, emotions. We explore the relationship between disappointment and our expectations (there’s a strong relationship between these two!), and we talk more specifically about how disappointment shows up in parenting. Lastly we discuss both unhelpful (maladaptive) and helpful (more effective) ways to cope with disappointment. 

Show Notes

In today’s episode, we focus on disappointment, a feeling most of us don’t name or talk about enough. We explore what makes disappointment a harder emotion to acknowledge, highlighting the tendency to quickly detour to anger, judgment, shame, or embarrassment. We discuss our own experiences with disappointment. We talk about how disappointment often presents, including the thoughts, feelings, and body sensations that tend to accompany it. We notice that there’s power in being able to name our disappointment – the trick is in letting disappointment coexist with other, often contradictory, emotions. We explore the relationship between disappointment and our expectations (there’s a strong relationship between these two!), and we talk more specifically about how disappointment shows up in parenting. Lastly we discuss both unhelpful (maladaptive) and helpful (more effective) ways to cope with disappointment.