The wheel of emotions: what it's for in therapy

The wheel of emotions is a visual aid that helps put a precise word on what you feel. At the centre, a few core emotions; toward the edge, finer and finer shades. Moving from "I feel bad" to "I feel discouraged" or "I feel humiliated" changes how you can work on it.

What it brings

Naming an emotion accurately — sometimes called emotional granularity — is associated with better regulation. The wheel is particularly useful:

• when emotional vocabulary is limited or undifferentiated ("stressed", "annoyed" for everything);
• with adolescents, or people with alexithymia;
• to tell apart close feelings (anger, frustration, resentment; sadness, disappointment, shame);
• ahead of work on thoughts, for example Beck's columns.

Its variants

Several models coexist: Plutchik's wheel (eight primary emotions, with intensities and combinations), the Geneva Emotion Wheel, or the "feelings wheel" popularised by Gloria Willcox, arranged in three concentric circles. None is "the" right version: they are maps, not measuring instruments. There is no score and no automatic interpretation.

What Orekio does with it — and doesn't

In Orekio, the wheel of emotions is a module the practitioner unlocks when they judge it relevant. Between sessions, the patient uses it to note what they feel in a given situation, with the most accurate word possible. At the next appointment, the practitioner finds these entries as they are.

Orekio does not analyse these entries: no automatic mood summary, no alert, no interpreted curve. The app shows back the patient's words and the context they noted. As with the other modules, this is consistent with its status as a digital care journal, outside the scope of medical devices (see About).

In practice

The wheel works well for short, repeated use: a few entries a week, rather than a detailed journal. It is often unlocked together with the mood-tracking module and, for high-intensity moments, with the safety plan and grounding techniques.