Emotion Regulation Choice in Internet Addiction: Less Reappraisal, Lower Frontal Alpha Asymmetry

Emotion regulation difficulties are implicated prominently in self-injury. Yet it is unclear how people who engage in different forms of self-injury attempt to regulate negative affect when multiple strategies are available to them. This laboratory-based study examined emotion regulation strategy choices in individuals who engage in non-suicidal self-injury (n=40), indirect forms of self-injury (disordered eating and substance abuse; n=46), and controls (n=48). Following a self-relevant stressor (negative autobiographical memory recall), participants selected one of six regulation strategies based on what they believed would most effectively alter their affect. Strategies spanned behavioral (physical pain, a snack, word activity) and non-behavioral (rumination, reappraisal, doing nothing) domains. Compared to controls, individuals who engage in NSSI and indirect self-injury were more likely to select behavioral strategies. In addition, those with NSSI and indirect self-injury were more likely than controls to choose physical pain and less likely to ruminate. Findings indicate that people with direct and indirect forms of self-injury alike are more likely to take action than to engage in further thought when experiencing aversive self-awareness, even when cognitive strategies are made salient. Results illuminate intervention targets for these clinical populations.

Emotion regulation from early adolescence to emerging adulthood and middle adulthood

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025413515405 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 38 (2) ◽

pp. 182-194 ◽

Cited By ~ 231

Author(s):

Peter Zimmermann ◽

Alexandra Iwanski

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Early Adolescence ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Developmental Changes ◽

Middle Adulthood ◽

Age Related ◽

Regulation Strategies ◽

Age Range

Despite the growing research on emotion regulation, the empirical evidence for normative age-related emotion regulation patterns is rather divergent. From a life-span perspective, normative age changes in emotion regulation may be more salient applying the same methodological approach on a broad age range examining both growth and decline during development. In addition, emotion-specific developmental patterns might show differential developmental trends. The present study examined age differences in seven emotion regulation strategies from early adolescence (age 11) to middle adulthood (age 50) for the three emotions of sadness, fear, and anger. The results showed specific developmental changes in the use of emotion regulation strategies for each of the three emotions. In addition, results suggest age-specific increases and decreases in many emotion regulation strategies, with a general trend to increasing adaptive emotion regulation. Specifically, middle adolescence shows the smallest emotion regulation strategy repertoire. Gender differences appeared for most emotion regulation strategies. The findings suggest that the development of emotion regulation should be studied in an emotion-specific manner, as a perspective solely on general emotion regulation either under- or overestimates existing emotion-specific developmental changes.

Examining the role of cognitive bias in emotion regulation

10.32920/ryerson.14654418.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Aleksandra Usyatynsky

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Group Discussion ◽

Interpretation Bias ◽

Positive Group ◽

Before And After ◽

Individuals experiencing depressive symptoms interpret ambiguous situations negatively and use helpful emotion regulation strategies less often than those without symptoms. Theory suggests these strategies are used less due to interference from negatively biased interpretations. This study examined whether interpretation bias interferes with emotion regulation by experimentally manipulating interpretations in a positive or negative direction. Method: Undergraduate students were randomly assigned to positive and negative bias training groups. Interpretation bias and emotion regulation questionnaires were completed before and after training. Results: The training succeeded in inducing bias change only for the positive group, and emotion regulation strategy use did not change in either group. Discussion: Interpretation bias was not found to affect emotion regulation. Possible explanations include: bias change in the positive group was not large enough to alter emotion regulation; the task eliciting emotion regulation was ill-suited for this study; and interpretation bias and emotion regulation are unrelated.

Dysregulation of emotions among pathological gamblers: The role of savoring

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.02.449 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (S1) ◽

pp. S394-S394

Author(s):

G. Rogier ◽

P. Velotti

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Pathological Gambling ◽

Emotion Dysregulation ◽

Positive Emotions ◽

Clinical Sample ◽

Emotional States ◽

Pathological Gamblers ◽

Difficulties In Emotion Regulation ◽

IntroductionTheories have conceptualized pathological gambling as an attempt to cope with emotional states. However, there is a lack of research about emotion dysregulation in this population. In a similar way, few is known about the nature of emotion regulation strategies used by pathological gamblers. Furthermore, it is not clear if pathological gamblers have difficulties to regulate negative emotions (as sadness) or positive ones (as excitement).ObjectivesWe sought to explore the associations among pathological gambling, emotion dysregulation and different types of emotion regulation strategies, comparing a clinical sample with community participants.AimsTo highlight similarities and differences in emotion dysregulation between pathological gamblers and healthy participants.MethodsA sample of pathological gamblers and a sample of healthy men, were administered the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Difficulties in Emotion regulation Scale-Positive (DERS-P), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Ways of Savoring Checklist (WOSC).ResultsAs expected, both levels of emotion dysregulation and suppression were significantly higher in the clinical sample while levels of savoring and reappraisal were significantly higher in the community sample.ConclusionsSuch results confirm the theorization of pathological gambling as a dysfunctional response to emotional states and underline the role of positive emotions. Specifically, pathological gamblers may be prone to suppress negative emotions instead to engage in functional strategies as reappraisal. Gamblers also fail to regulate positive emotions showing a poor capacity of savoring positive moments.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Working memory training improves emotion regulation in drug abstainers: Evidence from frontal alpha asymmetry

Neuroscience Letters ◽

10.1016/j.neulet.2020.135513 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 742 ◽

pp. 135513

Author(s):

Yaling Deng ◽

Lulu Hou ◽

Xiaoying Chen ◽

Renlai Zhou

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Emotion Regulation ◽

Working Memory Training ◽

Memory Training ◽

Alpha Asymmetry ◽

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry

Within Your Control? When Problem Solving May Be Most Helpful

Behavior Modification ◽

10.1177/0145445517726300 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 42 (6) ◽

pp. 932-952 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Laurel D. Sarfan ◽

Peter Gooch ◽

Elise M. Clerkin

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Positive Outcomes ◽

Negative Outcomes ◽

Behavioral Avoidance ◽

Regulation Strategies ◽

Perception Of Performance

Emotion regulation strategies have been conceptualized as adaptive or maladaptive, but recent evidence suggests emotion regulation outcomes may be context-dependent. The present study tested whether the adaptiveness of a putatively adaptive emotion regulation strategy—problem solving—varied across contexts of high and low controllability. The present study also tested rumination, suggested to be one of the most putatively maladaptive strategies, which was expected to be associated with negative outcomes regardless of context. Participants completed an in vivo speech task, in which they were randomly assigned to a controllable ( n = 65) or an uncontrollable ( n = 63) condition. Using moderation analyses, we tested whether controllability interacted with emotion regulation use to predict negative affect, avoidance, and perception of performance. Partially consistent with hypotheses, problem solving was associated with certain positive outcomes (i.e., reduced behavioral avoidance) in the controllable (vs. uncontrollable) condition. Consistent with predictions, rumination was associated with negative outcomes (i.e., desired avoidance, negative affect, negative perception of performance) in both conditions. Overall, findings partially support contextual models of emotion regulation, insofar as the data suggest that the effects of problem solving may be more adaptive in controllable contexts for certain outcomes, whereas rumination may be maladaptive regardless of context.

Difficulties In Emotion Regulation

The Relation of Negative Affect and Internet Addiction : Mediating Effect of Experiential Avoidance and Moderated Mediation Effect of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation

THE JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE ◽

10.46415/jss.2017.09.24.3.291 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 291-312

Author(s):

Se Hoon Jeon ◽

Jee Yon Lee

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Internet Addiction ◽

Experiential Avoidance ◽

Moderated Mediation ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

Mediation Effect ◽

Optimizing emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder: why and when strategies do and do not work

10.32920/ryerson.14663289.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Skyler Fitzpatrick

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Sleep Quality ◽

Emotional Reactivity ◽

Vagal Tone ◽

Borderline Personality ◽

Sleep Efficiency ◽

Emotional Intensity ◽

Mindful Awareness ◽

This dissertation aimed to delineate ways to optimize emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder (BPD) by 1) identifying factors that influence general emotion regulation effectiveness and 2) examining whether these factors predict differential effectiveness of two classes of emotion regulation strategies: engagement (i.e., engaging with emotional content) versus disengagement (i.e., shifting attention away from emotional content) strategies. Factors that occur before (i.e., antecedent-focused) and after (i.e., response-focused) emotion provocation were examined. Specifically, four predictors of general and differential emotion regulation effectiveness were identified: antecedent-focused sleep quality (impaired sleep efficiency and rated sleep quality), antecedent-focused biology (basal vagal tone), antecedent-focused emotion (baseline emotional intensity), and response-focused emotion (emotional reactivity). Secondary analyses also investigated whether the relationships of these factors to general and differential emotion regulation effectiveness varied across BPD and healthy control (HC) groups. A sample of individuals with BPD (n = 40) and matched HCs (n = 40) completed a weeklong assessment of sleep efficiency and quality and then participated in an experimental procedure. First, basal vagal tone and baseline emotional intensity data were collected. Following, participants were trained to use two BPD-relevant emotion regulation strategies, mindful awareness (engagement strategy) and distraction (disengagement strategy), in response to negative emotion inductions. Emotional reactivity in response to the inductions, and the extent to which emotion was decreased using the strategies following the inductions (i.e., emotion regulation effectiveness), was examined. Emotion was measured comprehensively across self-report, sympathetic, parasympathetic, and behavioural/expressive domains. Results indicated that sleep efficiency and rated sleep quality predicted differential emotion regulation effectiveness as they improved distraction but not mindful awareness effectiveness across groups. As well, higher basal vagal tone and emotional reactivity predicted improved emotion regulation effectiveness across strategies and groups. Findings suggest that targeting sleep quality may specifically facilitate the attention mechanisms required for effective use of distraction in BPD. They also suggest that identifying ways to increase vagal tone may potentiate the emotion regulation capacity of individuals with BPD. Finally, results indicate that high emotional reactions may not necessarily be problematic and, in fact, may mark a particularly fluid emotional system that is responsive to emotion regulation attempts.

Optimizing emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder: why and when strategies do and do not work

10.32920/ryerson.14663289 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Skyler Fitzpatrick

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Sleep Quality ◽

Emotional Reactivity ◽

Vagal Tone ◽

Borderline Personality ◽

Sleep Efficiency ◽

Emotional Intensity ◽

Mindful Awareness ◽

This dissertation aimed to delineate ways to optimize emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder (BPD) by 1) identifying factors that influence general emotion regulation effectiveness and 2) examining whether these factors predict differential effectiveness of two classes of emotion regulation strategies: engagement (i.e., engaging with emotional content) versus disengagement (i.e., shifting attention away from emotional content) strategies. Factors that occur before (i.e., antecedent-focused) and after (i.e., response-focused) emotion provocation were examined. Specifically, four predictors of general and differential emotion regulation effectiveness were identified: antecedent-focused sleep quality (impaired sleep efficiency and rated sleep quality), antecedent-focused biology (basal vagal tone), antecedent-focused emotion (baseline emotional intensity), and response-focused emotion (emotional reactivity). Secondary analyses also investigated whether the relationships of these factors to general and differential emotion regulation effectiveness varied across BPD and healthy control (HC) groups. A sample of individuals with BPD (n = 40) and matched HCs (n = 40) completed a weeklong assessment of sleep efficiency and quality and then participated in an experimental procedure. First, basal vagal tone and baseline emotional intensity data were collected. Following, participants were trained to use two BPD-relevant emotion regulation strategies, mindful awareness (engagement strategy) and distraction (disengagement strategy), in response to negative emotion inductions. Emotional reactivity in response to the inductions, and the extent to which emotion was decreased using the strategies following the inductions (i.e., emotion regulation effectiveness), was examined. Emotion was measured comprehensively across self-report, sympathetic, parasympathetic, and behavioural/expressive domains. Results indicated that sleep efficiency and rated sleep quality predicted differential emotion regulation effectiveness as they improved distraction but not mindful awareness effectiveness across groups. As well, higher basal vagal tone and emotional reactivity predicted improved emotion regulation effectiveness across strategies and groups. Findings suggest that targeting sleep quality may specifically facilitate the attention mechanisms required for effective use of distraction in BPD. They also suggest that identifying ways to increase vagal tone may potentiate the emotion regulation capacity of individuals with BPD. Finally, results indicate that high emotional reactions may not necessarily be problematic and, in fact, may mark a particularly fluid emotional system that is responsive to emotion regulation attempts.

Examining emotion regulation in binge-eating disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation ◽

10.1186/s40479-021-00166-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Anna Walenda ◽

Barbara Kostecka ◽

Philip S. Santangelo ◽

Katarzyna Kucharska

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Eating Disorder ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Binge Eating ◽

Binge Eating Disorder ◽

Emotional Regulation ◽

Self Blame ◽

Difficulties In Emotion Regulation ◽

Abstract Background Inefficient mechanisms of emotional regulation appear essential in understanding the development and maintenance of binge-eating disorder (BED). Previous research focused mainly on a very limited emotion regulation strategies in BED, such as rumination, suppression, and positive reappraisal. Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess a wider range of emotional regulation strategies (i.e. acceptance, refocusing on planning, positive refocusing, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, self-blame, other-blame, rumination, and catastrophizing), as well as associations between those strategies and binge-eating-related beliefs (negative, positive, and permissive), and clinical variables (eating disorders symptoms, both anxiety, depressive symptoms, and alexithymia). Methods Women diagnosed with BED (n = 35) according to the DSM-5 criteria and healthy women (n = 41) aged 22–60 years were assessed using: the Eating Attitudes Test-26, the Eating Beliefs Questionnaire-18, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Statistical analyses included: Student t - tests or Mann–Whitney U tests for testing group differences between BED and HC group, and Pearson’s r coefficient or Spearman’s rho for exploring associations between the emotion regulation difficulties and strategies, and clinical variables and binge-eating-related beliefs in both groups. Results The BED group presented with a significantly higher level of emotion regulation difficulties such as: nonacceptance of emotional responses, lack of emotional clarity, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, and limited access to emotion regulation strategies compared to the healthy controls. Moreover, patients with BED were significantly more likely to use maladaptive strategies (rumination and self-blame) and less likely to use adaptive strategies (positive refocusing and putting into perspective). In the clinical group, various difficulties in emotion regulation difficulties occurred to be positively correlated with the level of alexithymia, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Regarding emotion regulation strategies, self-blame and catastrophizing were positively related to anxiety symptoms, but solely catastrophizing was related to the severity of eating disorder psychopathology. Conclusions Our results indicate an essential and still insufficiently understood role of emotional dysregulation in BED. An especially important construct in this context seems to be alexithymia, which was strongly related to the majority of emotion regulation difficulties. Therefore, it might be beneficial to pay special attention to this construct when planning therapeutic interventions, as well as to the maladaptive emotion regulation strategies self-blame and catastrophizing, which were significantly related to BED psychopathology.