An Experimental Investigation of the Relationship Between Emotion Regulation Flexibility, Negative Affect and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

IF 2.8 3区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL

Cognitive Therapy and Research Pub Date : 2025-01-01 Epub Date: 2024-10-04 DOI:10.1007/s10608-024-10536-3

Madeleine Lim, Angela Nickerson, Philippa Specker

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose: Emerging research investigating mechanisms underpinning PTSD has identified emotion regulation (ER) flexibility - the ability to flexibly use ER strategies according to contextual demands - as one promising mechanism. To date, however, no study has investigated whether brief training in ER flexibility can minimise negative affect elicited from evocative stimuli. This study investigated the impact of instructed ER flexibility on emotional responding in probable PTSD.

Methods: Participants (N = 148) viewed images that differed in negative emotional intensity (high or low). For each image, participants followed instructions to adopt either a flexible or inflexible ER approach through randomisation to either an ER flexible condition or one of three control conditions (Inflexible Reappraisal, Inflexible Distraction, Context Insensitive). In the ER Flexible condition, participants were instructed to switch between distraction and reappraisal according to the emotional intensity of the image. The control conditions required participants to either employ a single ER strategy (Inflexible Distraction and Inflexible Reappraisal) or switch between strategies in a way that did not align with image intensity (Context Insensitive). Negative affect was rated after each image.

Results: Participants with probable PTSD in the ER Flexible condition demonstrated the lowest levels of negative affect. For participants without probable PTSD, negative affect did not differ between the ER conditions.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that individuals with probable PTSD benefitted from being instructed in ER flexibility. This finding supports the adaptiveness of ER flexibility and provides a preliminary temporal link between instructed ER flexibility and improved emotional responding for those with PTSD.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10608-024-10536-3.

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来源期刊

Cognitive Therapy and Research PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL-

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Cognitive Therapy and Research (COTR) focuses on the investigation of cognitive processes in human adaptation and adjustment and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It is an interdisciplinary journal welcoming submissions from diverse areas of psychology, including cognitive, clinical, developmental, experimental, personality, social, learning, affective neuroscience, emotion research, therapy mechanism, and pharmacotherapy.