Abstract: This article is a review on the emotion regulation(ER) theory from the perspective on the relationship of ER and mental health. Early psychoanalytic theory didn’t attach importance to ER and take it as the passive defensive mechanism, and psychopathy was viewed difficulties with ER. Situation-oriented approach took ER as instant psychological reaction to emotion situation, and the use of different ER strategies were related closely to different mental health state. Process -oriented approach considered ER to be extending during emotion generative process, and the use of ER strategies in different period resulted in different mental health state, some later researchers posited psychological resilience theory, which focused on durations of emotional reactivity to situation, and the length of durations were considered to be related to different mental health level, this theory extended the process of emotional regulation. Structure-oriented approach assumed that ER consisted of different components, instead of different processes, and different combinations of ER components resulted in individual’s variety of mental health level. The perspective of mental health promises new insights into the development of ER theory

Key words: emotion regulation, mental health, theory