Anger discussion questions
Are you a therapist looking for a feelings wheel PDF? You’ve landed in the right place. This article not only provides a free printable feelings wheel for adults PDF, it also offers an overview of how to use the feelings wheel with clients.
What is the wheel of emotions?
The wheel of emotions is a psychotherapeutic tool designed to help clients identify, understand, and articulate their emotions, which can support clients in the following ways:
Enhances emotional awareness
The emotional wheel can help clients accurately identify, label, and express or process their feelings. They also gain valuable insights into personal values, which may lead to exploring how to set and maintain boundaries.
Strengthens emotional regulation skills
By better recognizing and understanding emotions, clients can learn to manage overwhelming feelings and emotions, develop strategies to express themselves, and strengthen their distress tolerance skills.
Aids cognitive restructuring
By identifying emotions more accurately using the feelings wheel for adults PDF, clients may see how their thoughts and behaviors are closely interconnected with their feelings, providing an opportunity to reflect on unhelpful thoughts and find more adaptive ways to think and respond to emotions.
Although the feelings wheel and the wheel of emotions are closely related, they differ slightly in focus and structure.
The wheel of emotions was developed by psychologist Robert Plutchik*, who believed emotions are complex and interconnected. In his model, Plutchnik organized eight basic human emotions into a colored wheel.
These include:
Joy
Sadness
Disgust
Anger
Fear
Surprise
Anticipation
Trust
The emotions wheel also provides an opportunity to blend emotions, such as:
Joy + trust = love
Trust + surprise = curiosity
Anticipation + joy = optimism
Surprise + fear = awe
Anger + disgust = contempt
Sadness + disgust = remorse
Anticipation + fear = worry
The feelings wheel for adults PDF, however, expands on these emotions to include a wide range of nuanced feelings.
*There are variations of this wheel. For instance, psychologist Paul Ekman proposed that emotions include fear, anger, joy, sadness, contempt, disgust, and surprise. Later, he changed his theory to remove contempt, and added embarrassment, excitement, pride in achievement, amusement, guilt, relief, satisfaction, and shame.
How does the feelings wheel work?
The feelings wheel PDF aims to identify specific feelings, making it easier to express emotions, enhance emotional vocabulary, and increase self-awareness.
At the heart of the feelings wheel, you’ll find the core of the emotions (anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy). The wheel contains two further layers. After the basic emotions, you’ll find a list of secondary feelings, then on the outer circle, you’ll discover tertiary feelings.
We’ve illustrated these levels below.
Core emotion: Sadness
Secondary emotions: Lonely, grief, hurt, vulnerable, despair, guilt, depressed, disappointment
Tertiary feelings: Isolated, abandoned, grief, powerless, ashamed, empty, inferior, fragile, embarrassed
Core emotion: Joy
Secondary emotions: Contentment, excitement, aroused, pride, amusement, trusting, gratitude, thankful
Tertiary feelings: Secure, close, belonging, reassured, optimistic, intimate
Core emotion: Fear
Secondary emotions: Anxiety, nervousness, insecurity, dread, scared, weak, helplessness
Tertiary feelings: Uneasy, worried, vulnerable, overwhelmed, worthless, insignificant, powerless
Core emotion: Surprise
Secondary emotions: Shock, wonder, amazement, disbelief, confusion
Tertiary feelings: Startled, curious, fascinated, uncertain, baffled
Core emotion: Sadness
Secondary emotions: Disappointment, loneliness, hopelessness, guilt, grief
Tertiary feelings: Let down, abandoned, isolated, ashamed, heartbroken
Core emotion: Disgust
Secondary emotions: Contempt, aversion, disapproval, revulsion
Tertiary feelings: Displeased, judgment, uncomfortable, repulsed, skeptical, appalled, embarrassed
Core emotion: Anger
Secondary emotions: Frustration, aggression, hostility, rage, resentment, annoyance
Tertiary feelings: Irritated, bitter, aggravated, enraged, furious, jealous, provoked
Core emotion: Anticipation
Secondary emotions: Eagerness, interest, enthusiasm, impatience, motivation
Tertiary feelings: Hopeful, engaged, inspired, restless, determined
You’ll also find a free, downloadable illustrated feelings wheel for adults PDF that you can use in multiple ways.
How to use the feelings wheel PDF
You can download and use the feelings wheel for adults PDF in several ways.
For example, print or screen share the feelings wheel PDF and use it as a session psychoeducational prompt.
You can also give the worksheet to clients to remind them of what you discussed during therapy. Ask the client to reflect on their feelings using the feelings wheel for adults PDF between sessions, note their emotions, and then report their progress at their next therapy appointment.
Sources
Cross Francis, D. I., Hong, J., Liu, J., Eker, A., Lloyd, K., Bharaj, P. K., & Jeon, M. (2020). The Dominance of Blended Emotions: A Qualitative Study of Elementary Teachers' Emotions Related to Mathematics Teaching..
Gu, S., Wang, F., Patel, N. P., Bourgeois, J. A., & Huang, J. H. (2019). A Model for Basic Emotions Using Observations of Behavior in Drosophila.
Torre, J. B., & Lieberman, M. D. (2018). Putting Feelings Into Words: Affect Labeling as Implicit Emotion Regulation.
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