The Association between Self-Reported Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Heart Rate Variability: The Salient Role of Not Accepting Negative Emotions.

Endre Visted,Elisabeth Schanche,Berge Osnes,Julie L Svendsen,Lin Sørensen,Per-Einar Binder

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00328

Abstract

Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with development and maintenance of psychopathology. Typically, features of emotion regulation are assessed with self-report questionnaires. Heart rate variability (HRV) is an objective measure proposed as an index of emotional regulation capacity. A limited number of studies have shown that self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with HRV. However, results from prior studies are inconclusive, and an ecological validation of the association has not yet been tested. Therefore, further exploration of the relation between self-report questionnaires and psychophysiological measures of emotional regulation is needed. The present study investigated the contribution of self-reported emotion regulation difficulties on HRV in a student sample. We expected higher scores on emotion regulation difficulties to be associated with lower vagus-mediated HRV (vmHRV). Sixty-three participants filled out the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and their resting HRV was assessed. In addition, a subsample of participants provided ambulatory 24-h HRV data, in order to ecologically validate the resting data. Correlation analyses indicated that self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation was negatively associated with vmHRV in both resting HRV and 24-h HRV. Specifically, when exploring the contribution of the different facets of emotion dysregulation, the inability to accept negative emotions showed the strongest association with HRV. The results are discussed and need for future research is described.

Highlights

Emotions are multifaceted phenomena involving both experiential, behavioral and somatic domains (Gross, 2015a)
The purpose of the present study was to explore the associations between a well-established measurement of emotion regulation (DERS) and Heart rate variability (HRV), a proposed psychophysiological marker of emotion regulation capacity
When exploring the individual subscales of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), difficulties with accepting negative emotions, in addition to the inability to act in accordance with personal goals when experiencing negative emotions were associated with resting vagus-mediated HRV (vmHRV)

Summary

Introduction

Emotions are multifaceted phenomena involving both experiential, behavioral and somatic domains (Gross, 2015a). The definition of emotion regulation by Gratz and Roemer (2004) is frequently used These authors propose that emotion regulation involves multiple processes. Emotional awareness and clarity enable us to monitor and evaluate emotional experience, and to modify the experience when needed. It has been suggested by several authors that deficiencies in emotional awareness and clarity may lead to emotion regulation failure (Gross, 2015b). The inability to accept emotional reactions, by suppressing or avoiding them, is associated with increased emotional valence, cognitive load and physiological arousal (Hayes et al, 2006). Emotion regulation is associated with the ability to tolerate emotions to meet situational demands and personal goals without being overwhelmed by them. When experiencing negative emotions, behaving in accordance with ones goals, selecting appropriate emotion regulation strategies, and modulating emotional responses to meet goals and situational demands is of high importance to adapt to the environment

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Conclusion