Teaching healthy emotion construction through metacognitive reflection: a scholarly perspective on emotions in medicine

Abstract

Physicians regularly encounter emotionally charged situations that can impact their well-being and clinical performance. Yet, medical education rarely addresses how emotions are constructed and how they can be shaped in healthy ways. This article argues that healthy emotion construction should be explicitly taught throughout the medical education continuum. Drawing on Barrett’s Theory of Constructed Emotion, this work proposes that metacognitive reflection is a key mechanism for transforming emotional experiences. By becoming aware of and engaging with the interplay between bodily sensations, context, and prior experience, and developing emotional granularity, learners can learn to construct healthy emotions, respond adaptively in complex clinical environments, and build resilience. This paper describes how structured training using a 6-step pedagogical approach that fosters reflective engagement with constructing emotions can support this process. Integrating emotion construction into competency frameworks such as the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestones can help cultivate emotionally resilient physicians who are better equipped to navigate the complexities of clinical practice. This perspective invites further dialogue on how constructing emotions can be integrated into medical education.