The current paper introduces the notion of clinically relevant subtypes of emotion regulation behaviours. A new measure of emotion regulation, the Complexity of Emotional Regulation Scale (CERS), was established as psychometrically sound. It was positively correlated with a measure of emotional awareness (r = 0.28, p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with measures of self‐criticism (r = −0.28, p < 0.001) and depression (r = −0.35, p = 0.025), among others. Participants were drawn from two samples: clients from a university counselling centre and a non‐clinical student sample. Comparisons were conducted between non‐clinical and clinical samples to determine the effects of depression and other symptoms of psychopathology on participant's generation of strategies for emotion regulation. Participants in the clinical sample more often identified an intention to soothe but did not follow through as compared with the non‐clinical group, F(1, 198) = 4.662, p < 0.04. Furthermore, individuals in the non‐clinical sample were more likely to engage in specific, meaning‐making strategies when compared with the clinical group, F(1, 198) = 5.875, p < 0.02. Implications from the current studies suggest the possible applicability of the CERS to clinical settings using an interview rather than questionnaire format. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message: Emotion regulation should be thought of as being on a continuum of complexity, where strategies range from general (‘one size fits all’) action to specific (‘personal and idiosyncratic’) meaning. The best emotion regulation strategy depends on a client's presenting difficulty and level of distress.