Terms Of Emotion Regulation Research Articles

Older and younger adults differently judge the similarity between negative affect terms

ABSTRACTObjectives: Theoretical models of aging suggest changes across the adult lifespan in the capacity to differentiate emotions. Greater emotion differentiation is associated with advantages in terms of emotion regulation and emotion resiliency. This study utilized a novel method that directly measures judgments of affect differentiation and does not confound affective experience with knowledge about affect terms. Theoretical predictions that older adults would distinguish more between affect terms than younger persons were tested.Method: Older (n = 27; aged 60–92) and younger (n = 56; aged 18–32) adults rated the difference versus similarity of 16 affect terms from the Kessler and Staudinger (2009) scales; each of the 16 items was paired with every other item for a total of 120 ratings. Participants provided self-reports of trait emotions, alexithymia, and depressive symptoms.Results: Older adults significantly differentiated more between low arousal and high arousal negative affect (NA) items than younger persons. Depressive symptoms were associated with similarity ratings across and within valence and arousal.Conclusion: Findings offer partial support for theoretical predictions that older adults differentiate more between affect terms than younger persons. To the extent that differentiating between negative affects can aid in emotion regulation, older adults may have an advantage over younger persons. Future research should investigate mechanisms that underlie age group differences in emotion differentiation.

Is cloninger type 1 and type 2 alcoholism differ in terms of emotion regulation?

IntroductionEmotional disturbances are a central characteristic of many mental disorders, including alcohol addiction.ObjectivesIn this study we aimed to investigate the emotion disregulation among alcohol use disorders and to compare the emotion regulation difficulties with type 1 and type 2 alcoholism.MethodsThirty-three treatment-seeking AUD individuals were recruited from addiction division of psychiatry department of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. Patients who agreed to participate in the study and completed detoxification treatment were enrolled to the study. After describing the study and obtaining informed consent, participants were assessed with demographic questionnaires (including questions such as age, gender, income status, duration of alcohol use, amount of alcohol use, duration of abstinence were given to participants) followed by the semi-structured interview. Emotion regulation was assessed with the difficulties in emotion regulation scale.ResultOf the patients, 93.9% were male. The average age of participants was 41.21 ± 12.8 years. Of the participants, 60.6% were type 1 and 39.4% of type 2. There was statistically significant difference between type 1 and type 2 alcoholism in terms of emotion regulation. Type 2 alcoholism has more emotional regulation difficulties than type 1 alcoholism. This finding may be consistent with earlier onset of having more impulsive drinking pattern in type 2.ConclusionsIn conclusion alcohol use disorders are thought to be associated with emotion dysregulation. Emotion regulation difficulties, was higher in type 2 than type 1. Emotional regulation strategies should be considered in the interventions and may be evaluated as a new prognostic criteria.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Effects of Inexpressive Aggression on Depression in College Students: Cross Cultural Study between Japan and Russia

The aim of this study is to examine the cross-cultural effects of inexpressive aggression on depression in terms of emotion regulation in Japanese and Russian students. Two hundreds and six Japanese students and 243 Russian students read scenarios depicting socially provocative situations, and asked to rate their own anger, the other party’s hostile intent and happy emotion, and the extent in which they would use emotion regulations (distraction, suppress, and reappraisal), and finally their own other kinds of negative emotions (melancholy, anxiety, and depression) on a 9-point rating scale. The results showed that 1) Russians more frequently used suppression as emotion regulation than Japanese did, and suppression of anger decreased depressive emotions among Russians but not among Japanese. 2) Japanese would more frequently use reappraisal than Russians and reappraisal would increase depressive emotions among Japanese but not among Russians. 3) Distraction increased depressive emotions both among Japanese and Russian participants. 4) Females used more emotion regulation and felt more depressive emotions than males in both samples.

Self-reported Emotion Regulation Strategies in Children and Adolescents with Mental Disorders

Emotion regulation (ER) is extensively researched in the context of psychopathology. It is quite controversial if deficits in ER are related to psychopathology across disorders or specifically linked to certain forms of psychopathology. Furthermore, it appears unclear if there are differences in ER depending on the specific emotion to be regulated. There are only few studies comparing different forms of psychopathology in terms of ER, specifically in childhood and adolescence. We explored ER in a consecutive clinical sample seeking help in two outpatient university clinics (N=129, age: 7-17 years, 45% female). In a first step, the ER of all children and adolescents seeking professional help for emotional and behavioral problems was compared with the ER-characteristics of children and adolescents identified in school samples. In a second step, the clinical sample was divided into different groups of psychopathology, comparing the associations of different types of psychopathology with ER. ER in the clinical sample differed significantly from children and adolescents in school settings. The clinical sample was particularly characterized by a lack of adaptive strategies, and only partially by an increased use of maladaptive strategies. Further analysis revealed no specific deficits in the ER depending on types of psychopathology. The findings suggest a transdiagnostic and emotion-overarching conceptualization of ER in childhood and adolescence.

Neuroticism and extraversion mediate the association between loneliness and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Loneliness is an unpleasant and distressing feeling that a person experiences when he/she perceives that his/her social relationships are lacking in someway, either quantitatively or qualitatively; this can be linked to anxiety, depression, and suicide risk. Previous studies have found that certain personality traits (which are temporally stable and heritable) are predictors of loneliness. However, little empirical evidence is available on the brain structures associated with loneliness, as well as how personality traits impact the relationship between loneliness and brain structure. Thus, the current study used voxel-based morphometry to identify the brain structures underlying individual differences in loneliness (as measured by the UCLA Loneliness Scale) in a large sample, and then, applied multiple mediation analyses to explore the nature of the influence of personality traits on the relationship between loneliness and brain structure. The results showed that lonely individuals had greater regional gray matter volume in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which might reflect immature functioning in terms of emotional regulation. More importantly, we found that neuroticism and extraversion partially mediated the relationship between the left DLPFC and loneliness. In summary, through morphometric and multiple mediation analyses, this paper further validates the influence of both neuroticism and extraversion on loneliness.

Prefrontal activation patterns of automatic and regulated approach–avoidance reactions – A functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study

IntroductionThe present pilot study investigated cortical processes during automatic and regulated approach–avoidance reactions for the first time. Methods 1In 15 healthy volunteers, prefrontal activity was measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) during performance of a joystick version of the Approach–Avoidance Task (AAT). In experiment 1, participants approached (pulled towards their body) and avoided (pushed away from their body) positive and negative pictures. Results 1Incompatible, regulated reactions (avoid positive, approach negative) compared to compatible, automatic reactions (approach positive, avoid negative) caused stronger activation in terms of a decrease of deoxygenated haemoglobin (HHb) in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (i.e., in one of the main instances for behavioural control in humans). Methods 2In the context of pathologically enhanced approach tendencies in addiction disorders and of planned future studies, we presented alcohol and non-alcohol pictures in experiment 2. Results 2Here, left anterior lateral orbitofrontal cortex as part of the general reward system processing secondary rewards showed stronger activation in terms of increased oxygenated haemoglobin (O2Hb) during approaching compared to avoiding alcohol pictures. This difference was positively correlated with participants’ expectation about beneficial effects of alcohol in terms of emotional regulation. DiscussionDespite some limitations due to the pilot character of the study, our results suggest that further combinations of the AAT and functional imaging methods will reveal detailed insight into neuronal mechanisms constituting approach–avoidance as basic behavioural principles and into specifically altered sub-processes in alcohol dependence.

Considerations of verbal and non-verbal communication in body psychotherapy

Communication with others has both verbal and non-verbal aspects. This article describes theory about the use of language in body psychotherapy, ways of the psychotherapist relating to the client's language, and the psychotherapist using language with different therapeutic purposes in mind. Illustrative case vignettes are included. Links are made to current thinking in neuroscience and cognitive psychology. Language in the therapeutic relationship is discussed in terms of emotional regulation and spiritual awareness by combining verbal and non-verbal communications with intention, presence, contact and awareness.

Psychobiology of Mindfulness

There is controversy about whether mindfulness-based approaches to psychotherapy represent a new wave of cognitive-behavioral therapy or a core process in all psychotherapies. One way of conceptualizing mindfulness is in terms of emotion regulation; mindfulness is a strategy aimed at opposing suppression and avoidance. Dispositional mindfulness has been associated with greater activation in prefrontal cortex and greater deactivation of amygdala during affect labeling. A number of rigorous studies of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression have been positive. However, much remains to be discovered about the underlying mechanisms of and clinical indications for mindfulness-based approaches.

Examination of the paths between personality, current mood, its evaluation, and emotion regulation

In an ongoing longitudinal study, a Big Five Personality Inventory was completed by 122 men and 126 women at age 33. At age 36, the Brief Mood Introspection Scale, the Meta‐Evaluation Scale, and the Meta‐Regulation Scale were administered to 140 men and 127 women. The results, based on path analyses, lent support to a hypothesized model, according to which current mood (Negative, Positive, Active, Calm) and mood evaluation (Mood Influence, Typicality and Acceptance, Clarity) mediate the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and emotion regulation strategies (Repair, Dampening, Maintenance). For both sexes, Neuroticism was the most significant trait in terms of emotion regulation. A sex difference emerged: in general, personality traits and mood variables explained emotion regulation more significantly in men. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Examination of the paths between personality, current mood, its evaluation, and emotion regulation

In an ongoing longitudinal study, a Big Five Personality Inventory was completed by 122 men and 126 women at age 33. At age 36, the Brief Mood Introspection Scale, the Meta‐Evaluation Scale, and the Meta‐Regulation Scale were administered to 140 men and 127 women. The results, based on path analyses, lent support to a hypothesized model, according to which current mood (Negative, Positive, Active, Calm) and mood evaluation (Mood Influence, Typicality and Acceptance, Clarity) mediate the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and emotion regulation strategies (Repair, Dampening, Maintenance). For both sexes, Neuroticism was the most significant trait in terms of emotion regulation. A sex difference emerged: in general, personality traits and mood variables explained emotion regulation more significantly in men. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.