Mindfulness training promotes upward spirals of positive affect and cognition: multilevel and autoregressive latent trajectory modeling analyses.

Eric L Garland,Marieke Wichers,Frenk Peeters,Nicole Geschwind

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00015

Eric L Garland, Marieke Wichers + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00015

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Abstract

Recent theory suggests that positive psychological processes integral to health may be energized through the self-reinforcing dynamics of an upward spiral to counter emotion dysregulation. The present study examined positive emotion–cognition interactions among individuals in partial remission from depression who had been randomly assigned to treatment with mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT; n = 64) or a waitlist control condition (n = 66). We hypothesized that MBCT stimulates upward spirals by increasing positive affect and positive cognition. Experience sampling assessed changes in affect and cognition during 6 days before and after treatment, which were analyzed with a series of multilevel and autoregressive latent trajectory models. Findings suggest that MBCT was associated with significant increases in trait positive affect and momentary positive cognition, which were preserved through autoregressive and cross-lagged effects driven by global emotional tone. Findings suggest that daily positive affect and cognition are maintained by an upward spiral that might be promoted by mindfulness training.

Highlights

The dynamic nature of human experience emerges from the continual demand to adapt to changing and challenging life circumstances; it is out of this process of adaptation that emotions arise (Lazarus, 1991)
Our primary aim was to test the hypothesis that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) will significantly increase momentary positive cognitions relative to a waitlist control group
Because we were interested in the effects of MBCT on positive affect and cognition, in the final autoregressive latent trajectory (ALT) model we focused on days in the post-assessment period following the treatment or waitlist control conditions, controlling for average daily levels of positive affect and cognition in pre-assessment period

Summary

Introduction

The dynamic nature of human experience emerges from the continual demand to adapt to changing and challenging life circumstances; it is out of this process of adaptation that emotions arise (Lazarus, 1991). When life circumstances are appraised to be benign, beneficial, or rewarding, positive affect results (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). In complementary fashion, when individuals experience positive emotion, they are more likely to notice the pleasant, beautiful, or rewarding aspects of their lives (Tamir and Robinson, 2007), and are more likely to adopt a positive attitude to self or others when making evaluative judgments (Clore and Palmer, 2009). At present, few empirical studies have elucidated the dynamics of positive emotion–cognition interactions

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