Emotion wheel
Tap the feeling that fits you right now. Start in the middle if you're not sure, then move outward to find a closer word.
This is a tool for putting a name to what you feel. It isn't a test or a diagnosis.
Is it a pleasant or unpleasant feeling?
How much energy do you have right now?
Or start with one of these
Your chosen feeling will be explained here.
Where this information comes from
The wheel layout
Willcox, G. (1982). The Feeling Wheel: A tool for expanding awareness of emotions and increasing spontaneity and intimacy. Transactional Analysis Journal, 12(4), 274–276.
This emotion wheel is a widely shared six-centre adaptation of Willcox's Feeling Wheel. The words and their places follow the printed wheel this page was based on.
The "Not sure where to start?" questions
Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(6), 1161–1178.
Posner, J., Russell, J. A., & Peterson, B. S. (2005). The circumplex model of affect: An integrative approach to affective neuroscience, cognitive development, and psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 17(3), 715–734.
Research has found that feelings can be broadly sorted by how pleasant they are and how much energy they carry. Which wheel words go in which group was decided for this page and has not been tested.
Why naming a feeling helps
Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421–428.
Torre, J. B., & Lieberman, M. D. (2018). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling as implicit emotion regulation. Emotion Review, 10(2), 116–124.
Kashdan, T. B., Barrett, L. F., & McKnight, P. E. (2015). Unpacking emotion differentiation: Transforming unpleasant experience by perceiving distinctions in negativity. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(1), 10–16.
Where the "what can help" tips come from
Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), 1–26.
Linehan, M. M. (2015). DBT skills training manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. (Pausing before acting, checking the facts, acting opposite to an unhelpful urge, calming the body with cold water and slow breathing.)
Martell, C. R., Dimidjian, S., & Herman-Dunn, R. (2010). Behavioral activation for depression: A clinician's guide. Guilford Press. (Starting with small actions before motivation returns.)
Tangney, J. P., & Dearing, R. L. (2002). Shame and guilt. Guilford Press. (The difference between "I did something bad" and "I am bad".)
Neff, K. D. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85–101.
Masi, C. M., Chen, H.-Y., Hawkley, L. C., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2011). A meta-analysis of interventions to reduce loneliness. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15(3), 219–266.
Borkovec, T. D., Wilkinson, L., Folensbee, R., & Lerman, C. (1983). Stimulus control applications to the treatment of worry. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21(3), 247–251. (Setting aside a "worry time".)
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 17(2), 297–314.
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). (The two-week guide for low mood.)
Limits
The tips are general self-help drawn from the approaches above. They have not been tested word by word, and the wheel itself has not been validated as a measure. Helpline numbers were checked in September 2026 and may change.