Emotion regulation: 11 questionnaires and rating scales

The DERS assesses emotion regulation problems across several dimensions, including emotional understanding, acceptance, and the ability to act appropriately when faced with emotions. It is used to identify emotional disorders in adults.

The CERQ is a self-report tool that measures the cognitive emotion regulation strategies people use after experiencing negative or stressful events. It identifies different ways of cognitively processing emotions, such as rumination, putting into perspective, or catastrophizing, based on nine distinct strategies. The questionnaire is used in clinical and research settings to better understand the mechanisms of emotional adjustment.

The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure perceived emotional and social competencies. It notably explores intrapersonal functioning, interpersonal relationships, adaptability, stress management and general mood. Used by psychologists in clinical, counseling, career guidance and personal functioning assessment settings, it provides a structured profile of the perceived emotional quotient. This tool does not, on its own, establish a psychopathological diagnosis, but it is a useful aid for understanding emotional resources, adaptive vulnerabilities and areas to work on in psychological support.

The IASC is a self-report questionnaire designed to explore difficulties related to emotional regulation, identity, interpersonal relationships, and certain coping patterns frequently associated with psychological trauma, particularly developmental trauma and complex trauma. It helps the psychologist objectify alterations in self-functioning that are not always captured by scales focused solely on anxiety, depression, or posttraumatic stress disorder. The tool is particularly useful in the clinical assessment of adults with a history of abuse, neglect, repeated victimization, or marked disturbances of attachment and emotional stability. Its interpretation is based on a profile of subdimensions rather than a single categorical diagnosis, which makes it a relevant instrument for screening, case formulation, and therapeutic follow-up.

The ESQ is a self-report questionnaire rooted in the framework of transactional analysis, designed to explore how a person draws on their main ego states in everyday functioning. The tool generally aims to estimate the relative weight of five functional dimensions frequently described in TA: Critical Parent, Nurturing Parent, Adult, Free Child, and Adapted Child. In clinical practice, it can help the psychologist structure the exploration of relational styles, emotion regulation patterns, habitual responses to stress, and interpersonal scripts. The ESQ is mainly used as a screening and clinical reflection instrument, alongside the interview, and not as a stand-alone diagnostic tool.

The ERC is a questionnaire used to assess emotion regulation and problems with emotional expression in children, based on observations by their parents or teachers. It includes two main dimensions: emotion regulation and lability/negativity. This tool is useful for the early detection of emotional difficulties and for guiding therapeutic interventions.

The EDS is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure emotion dysregulation in adults. It explores difficulty identifying, understanding, tolerating and modulating one's emotions, as well as the tendency to feel overwhelmed by them or to react ineffectively under emotional stress. Used in clinical practice and research, particularly in contexts of trauma, borderline symptoms, anxiety, depression or posttraumatic stress, it provides a useful dimensional estimate of the severity of emotion regulation difficulties.

The DTS is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure perceived tolerance of emotional distress, that is, a person's ability to withstand, appraise, and regulate negative affective states. The tool explores four complementary dimensions: tolerance, attentional absorption, appraisal of distress, and regulation efforts. Widely used in clinical psychology and research, it helps identify a transdiagnostic vulnerability involved in anxiety disorders, addictive behaviors, emotion regulation difficulties, and various forms of psychological distress. It does not make a diagnosis on its own, but provides a useful benchmark for assessing emotional functioning and monitoring clinical progress.

The IERQ is a brief self-report questionnaire designed to measure how a person uses others to regulate their own emotions. It assesses four distinct interpersonal strategies: enhancing positive affect, perspective taking, soothing and social modeling. The tool is mainly relevant for adults in clinical psychology and research, to explore the use of relational resources in emotion management, particularly in relation to anxiety, depression, attachment and social functioning.

The ERS is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure emotion reactivity, that is, the tendency to react quickly, intensely, and persistently to emotions. It mainly explores three clinically useful dimensions: emotional sensitivity, emotional intensity or arousal, and the persistence of emotional states. The tool is used with older adolescents and adults, in clinical practice as well as in research, particularly in the assessment of emotion dysregulation, mood disorders, self-injurious behaviors, and certain personality disorders. It is not a diagnostic test on its own, but it helps objectify the overall level of emotion reactivity and track its change over time.

The ALS is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure affective lability, that is, the tendency to experience rapid, marked mood shifts that are difficult to regulate. It explores the frequency and intensity of emotional swings, particularly between states such as anxiety, sadness, anger, and elevated mood. The ALS is used in clinical practice and research to document emotional instability, particularly in personality disorders, certain mood disorders, and emotion dysregulation problems. It is not a diagnostic tool on its own, but it provides a useful measure of the severity of affective lability and its clinical impact.