Kleshas and Emotional Reactivity Patterns

Patanjali identifies five kleshas (afflictions or obstacles): avidya (ignorance), asmita (egoic identification), raga (attachment/craving), dvesha (aversion/hatred), and abhinivesha (clinging to life). These are not moral failings but habitual mental patterns that generate suffering. A dysregulated person often exhibits all five: ignorance of their emotional triggers, ego-driven shame and defensiveness, desperate attachment to specific outcomes, intense aversion to discomfort, and clinging to old coping mechanisms. Patanjali teaches that liberation requires recognizing these patterns' operation. DBT parallels this: emotion regulation requires understanding that dysregulation isn't character weakness but conditioned reactivity rooted in trauma, unmet needs, and distorted beliefs. Cognitive-behavioral work in DBT targets these kleshas—challenging catastrophic thoughts (avidya), reducing shame identification (asmita), decreasing emotional dependency (raga), building distress tolerance (dvesha), and replacing maladaptive behaviors (abhinivesha). The yogic framework deepens DBT's approach: dysregulation isn't merely a behavioral problem but a misalignment of consciousness with reality. Addressing it requires both skill-building and philosophical reorientation toward what is true and valuable.