A body of research shows that emotions aren’t what they seem–they’re not pre-formed, not consistent between people, and don’t have any sort of neurologic ‘signature’. So then, what are they? Lisa Feldman Barrett explains this brilliantly in her new book How Emotions Are Made–and in this blog we explain what it means for communication about serious illness. (Disclosure: I’m in the acknowledgements–a very generous shout out, but Lisa is the one who is changing the paradigm!)