Habitual Use Of Emotion Regulation Strategies Research Articles

Relationship Between Habitual Use and Degree of Emotion Regulation: Age Differences in Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression.

The present study examined age differences in and the relationship between two indices of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression: the degree of emotion regulation and the habitual use of emotion-regulation strategies. In total, 101 younger and 99 older participants were included in this study. The degree of emotion regulation was measured using an experimental task in which participants were presented with negative or positive pictures and required to regulate their emotions. Habitual use of emotion regulation strategies was measured using an emotion regulation questionnaire. The results showed that younger adults regulated their emotions to a greater extent than older adults in both reappraisal and suppression. Younger adults were more likely to use reappraisal than were older adults, although there were no age differences in the use of suppression. No significant correlations were found between the degree of emotion regulation and the habitual use of emotion regulation strategies. These results suggest that age differences in emotion regulation depend on the regulation strategy and that the degree of emotion regulation and habitual use of emotion regulation strategies are independent and quite different indicators in nature.

Mapping the frontal alpha asymmetry indicators of habitual emotion regulation

Frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) has been explored extensively in affective neuroscience. To determine which FAA indicators are linked with the habitual use of emotion regulation, we recorded the resting electroencephalogram alpha activity. First, we reduced all of the FAA indicators to four factors by exploratory factor analysis. Next, we carried out a multiple regression analysis to determine which factors could significantly predict the habitual use of emotion-regulation strategies. According to the results, greater left-asymmetric activation at the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex predicted increased use of reappraisal, whereas at the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, it was predicted by right-asymmetric activation. Greater left-asymmetric frontal activity at the posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was related to increased use of distraction and suppression. These results suggest that resting FAA in the prefrontal cortex region plays a significant role in the habitual use of emotion regulation.Video abstract: http://links.lww.com/WNR/A485.

Trauma, Resilience, and Emotion Regulation

Background: History of childhood abuse and neglect is considered to be a relevant risk factor for adult psychopathology. A functional emotion regulation (ER) can account for resilience despite of traumatic experiences in childhood. Materials & Methods: This study compares the habitual use of specific ER strategies among mentally healthy individuals with (n=61) and without (n=52) experience of childhood abuse and neglect by using the self-rating instrument Heidelberg Form for Emotion Regulation Strategies (H-FERST). SCID-I, ADP-IV, SCL-27, and BDI-II were used for assessment of psychopathological distress. Results: We found no group difference in the habitual use of ER strategies. Healthy individuals with childhood abuse and neglect showed significantly more subjective distress symptoms. Discussion & Conclusion: Considering the significantly higher psychopathological distress reported by the trauma group, the functional habitual use of ER strategies could serve as a path to explain the resilient development of adult individuals after childhood abuse and neglect.

Emotion Dysregulation of Women with Premenstrual Syndrome.

The aim of the current study was to test whether women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) had difficulties in emotion regulation. In Study 1, we investigated the relationship between the habitual use of emotion-regulation strategies and the severity of PMS (n = 230). The results showed that the severity of PMS was negatively associated with the habitual use of reappraisal, but positively associated with the habitual use of suppression. In Study 2, we first investigated the difference in the spontaneous use of suppression versus reappraisal between women with (n = 42) and without PMS (n = 42) when watching sad film clips. Then we instructed some participants (PMS group = 20, healthy group = 21) to use reappraisal to regulate their emotions induced by a second sad film clip, and the other participants were asked to watch the second film clip freely (PMS group = 22, healthy group = 21). The results showed that there was no significant difference between participants with and without PMS in the self-reported spontaneous use of emotion-regulation strategies. For participants with PMS, increases in spontaneous suppression use were associated with increases in skin conductance level (SCL), while this association was not found among participants without PMS.

Cognitive emotion regulation in euthymic bipolar disorder

BackgroundBased on findings indicating increased stress reactivity and prolonged stress recovery in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), it has been proposed that emotion regulation (ER) deficits lie at the core of this disorder. Recent studies show an increased use of maladaptive ER strategies and a decreased use of adaptive ER strategies in BD. Whether this pattern is merely a correlate of affective episodes or might be a stable characteristic of BD, however, remains to be explored. In addition, it is unclear whether these deficits in ER are specific to people with a history of BD. MethodsWe examined whether euthymic BD individuals differ from healthy controls (HC) and individuals with a history of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with respect to the cognitive ER strategies they habitually use (CERQ) in response to negative affect. The sample consisted of 42 bipolar patients, 43 patients with MDD and 39 HC. ResultsCompared to HC, euthymic BD and MDD individuals reported increased use of rumination, catastrophizing, and self-blame alongside decreased use of positive reappraisal, and putting into perspective. No differences were found between BD and MDD groups. LimitationsThese findings are based on self-reports reflecting the habitual use of ER-strategies. The use of more objective methods and the examination of the spontaneous use of ER-strategies in euthymic BD would be desirable. ConclusionsDeficits in the habitual use of ER strategies may characterize BD and MDD individuals even outside of an acute episode and thereby play a role in the recurrence of affective disorders.

Emotion regulation in depression: Relation to cognitive inhibition

Depression is a disorder of impaired emotion regulation. Consequently, examining individual differences in the habitual use of emotion-regulation strategies has considerable potential to inform models of this debilitating disorder. The aim of the current study was to identify cognitive processes that may be associated with the use of emotion-regulation strategies and to elucidate their relation to depression. Depression has been found to be associated with difficulties in cognitive control and, more specifically, with difficulties inhibiting the processing of negative material. We used a negative affective priming task to assess the relations among inhibition and individual differences in the habitual use of rumination, reappraisal, and expressive suppression in clinically depressed, formerly depressed, and never-depressed participants. We found that depressed participants exhibited the predicted lack of inhibition when processing negative material. Moreover, within the group of depressed participants, reduced inhibition of negative material was associated with greater rumination. Across the entire sample, reduced inhibition of negative material was related to less use of reappraisal and more use of expressive suppression. Finally, within the formerly depressed group, less use of reappraisal, more use of rumination, and greater expressive suppression were related to higher levels of depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that individual differences in the use of emotion-regulation strategies play an important role in depression, and that deficits in cognitive control are related to the use of maladaptive emotion-regulation strategies in this disorder.