scholarly journals Physiological Factors Linking Insecure Attachment to Psychopathology: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1477
Author(s):  
Marta Tironi ◽  
Simone Charpentier Charpentier Mora ◽  
Donatella Cavanna ◽  
Jessica L. Borelli ◽  
Fabiola Bizzi
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Emotional Dysregulation ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Anxious Attachment ◽  
Physiological Factors ◽  
Sinus Arrhythmia ◽  
Cardiac Slowing

Although many studies have documented associations between insecure attachment and psychopathology, attachment may not confer risk for psychopathology independently, but rather through its interaction with emotional, social, and biological factors. Understanding the variables through which attachment may lead to psychopathology is therefore important. Within this domain of research, the role of physiological factors is poorly investigated. What are the relevant domains and why, when, or for whom do they influence mental disorders relating to attachment? The current systematic review aims to answer these questions. Results reveal that physiological indices of emotional regulation play a role in explaining and/or determining the relationship between attachment and psychopathology. Specifically: (1) combined with insecure attachment, higher skin conductance level (SCL), lower cardiac slowing, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia modulation (RSA) contribute to different psychopathological indicators and behavioral/psychological dysfunctions, although the latter predicts a contradictory pattern of findings; (2) insecure-avoidant attachment is more consistently linked with stress and emotional dysregulation when combined with RSA, while anxious attachment confers risk of depressive symptoms when combined with SCL. We concluded our discussion of the results of seven studies by outlining a plan to move the field forward. We discuss the quality of the assessment, methodological limitations, and future directions, highlighting the need to extend the research to clinical samples.

scholarly journals How is affective instability defined and measured? A systematic review

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
pp. 1793-1808 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Marwaha ◽  
Z. He ◽  
M. Broome ◽  
S. P. Singh ◽  
J. Scott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Emotional Dysregulation ◽  
Single Measure ◽  
Affective Instability ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Affective Lability

BackgroundAffective instability (AI) is poorly defined but considered clinically important. The aim of this study was to examine definitions and measures of AI employed in clinical populations.MethodThis study was a systematic review using the PRISMA guidelines. MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, PsycArticles and Web of Science databases were searched. Also five journals were hand searched. Primary empirical studies involving randomized controlled trials (RCTs), non-RCTs, controlled before and after, and observational investigations were included. Studies were selected, data extracted and quality appraised. A narrative synthesis was completed.ResultsA total of 11 443 abstracts were screened and 37 studies selected for final analysis on the basis that they provided a definition and measure of AI. Numbers of definitions for each of the terms employed in included studies were: AI (n = 7), affective lability (n = 6), affective dysregulation (n = 1), emotional dysregulation (n = 4), emotion regulation (n = 2), emotional lability (n = 1), mood instability (n = 2), mood lability (n = 1) and mood swings (n = 1); however, these concepts showed considerable overlap in features. A total of 24 distinct measures were identified that could be categorized as primarily measuring one of four facets of AI (oscillation, intensity, ability to regulate and affect change triggered by environment) or as measuring general emotional regulation.ConclusionsA clearer definition of AI is required. We propose AI be defined as ‘rapid oscillations of intense affect, with a difficulty in regulating these oscillations or their behavioural consequences’. No single measure comprehensively assesses AI and a combination of current measures is required for assessment. A new short measure of AI that is reliable and validated against external criteria is needed.

scholarly journals DRUG DEPENDENCE AND EMOTIONAL DYSREGULATION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-78
Author(s):  
Javier Sánchez Alonso ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Drug Addiction ◽  
Drug Dependence ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Emotional Dysregulation

Introducción: La regulación emocional se ha relacionado con gran cantidad de trastornos mentales. Su definición ha tenido cierta controversia y distinciones según el autor. Se aportan dos modelos explicativos de la regulación emocional: el Modelo procesual de regulación emocional y el Modelo de regulación emocional basado en el procesamiento emocional. Asimismo, se explica la relación de esta habilidad con la población consumidora, y el estado actual de consumo en España. El objetivo de este estudio esestudiar la información científica más reciente, evaluar la utilidad de la regulación emocional para la prevención yla intervención en personas drogodependientes, y de manera más específica, identificar y analizar la relación existente, las técnicas evaluativas, y la muestra empleada. Método: La selección de artículos se ha realizado desde el año 2016 hasta 2020, estando estos relacionados con la regulación emocional y la población drogodependiente. Fueron ejecutadas búsquedas en Scopus y Psycinfo, utilizando los siguientes términos: “emotional regulation” AND“drug addiction”. Resultados: Del total de artículos potenciales, se seleccionaron 20 que se ajustaban a los criterios de inclusión y exclusión establecidos. Se destacan numerosas relaciones beneficiosas entre la regulación emocional y las personas drogodependientes, centrándose las investigaciones encontradas en poblaciones adultas. Asimismo, se distinguen y describen una serie de instrumentos empleados para la evaluación de la R.E. Discusión: En esta revisión se concluye que la regulación emocional tiene una gran influencia en la población drogodependiente, obteniéndose de su desarrollo numerosos beneficios, los cuales se dan a un nivel tanto de prevención como de intervención.

scholarly journals Emotional Reactivity and Regulation in Preschool-Age Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter: Evidence From Autonomic Nervous System Measures

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Tumanova ◽  
Blair Wilder ◽  
Julia Gregoire ◽  
Michaela Baratta ◽  
Rachel Razza
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Sinus Arrhythmia ◽  
Psychophysiological Responses ◽  
Preschool Age Children

Purpose: This experimental cross-sectional research study examined the emotional reactivity and emotion regulation in preschool-age children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS) by assessing their psychophysiological response during rest and while viewing pictures from the International Affective Picture System (Lang et al., 2008).Method: Participants were 18 CWS (16 boys and two girls; mean age 4 years, 5 months) and 18 age- and gender-matched CWNS. Participants' psychophysiological responses were measured during two baselines and two picture viewing conditions. Skin conductance level (SCL) and heart rate were measured to assess emotional reactivity. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was measured to assess emotional regulation. Participants' shyness and executive function were assessed via parent report and considered for their effects on participants' psychophysiological responses.Results: First, CWNS and CWS did not differ in their initial baseline SCL, heart rate, or RSA, but all participants had higher SCL and lower RSA in the second baseline, subsequent to the first challenge condition, compared to the first baseline. Second, during the challenge conditions, CWS did not differ from CWNS in their SCL, but showed a significantly higher heart rate than CWNS. Third, CWS exhibited a significantly lower RSA during the challenge conditions compared to CWNS. Lastly, the temperamental quality of shyness was associated with preschool-age children's SCL, such that participants who were rated higher in shyness had a higher SCL during the challenge conditions. Participants' executive function had a marginally significant effect on the RSA, such that the participants who had higher executive function composite scores exhibited lower RSA during the challenge conditions.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that CWS and CWNS did not differ in their emotional reactivity and emotional regulation abilities at rest. During challenge conditions, however, CWS tended to be more emotionally reactive, as indicated by a higher heart rate, and also employed more emotional regulation, indexed by a greater decrease in RSA, compared to CWNS. Preschool-age children's behavior is largely dominated by reactivity, but there is the emergence of regulation, which can help children adjust to various contextual demands. For CWS who are more emotionally reactive, regulatory skills may be particularly critical to their prognosis and treatment.

Patient social functioning in acute mental health inpatient wards: the role of emotional regulation, attachment styles and nurse–patient relationships

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Laura D Wainwright ◽  
Katherine Berry ◽  
Charlotte Dunster-Page ◽  
Gillian Haddock
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Social Functioning ◽  
Attachment Style ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Attachment Styles ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Anxious Attachment ◽  
Patient Relationships

Background/aims Improvement in social functioning is an important aspect of recovery from severe mental health problems. Nurses on acute mental health wards play an important role in facilitating this recovery. Therefore, it is important to explore potential predictors of social functioning and the quality of nurse–patient relationships. The aim of this study was to explore associations between patient social functioning, nurse–patient therapeutic alliances, emotional regulation, attachment style and nurse distress in acute mental health settings. Methods: A questionnaire-based, cross-sectional approach with correlational and regression analyses was used for this study. A total of 50 nurse–patient dyads in acute mental health inpatient wards across four NHS trusts in the north-west of England took part. Patients and nurses completed questionnaires regarding demographic information, emotional regulation, attachment style and alliance. Nurses also rated patient social functioning and their own distress. Results The patient anxious attachment style was associated with difficulties in regulating emotions. Patient emotional regulation, patient insecure attachment and the patient-rated alliance predicted nurse-rated patient social functioning. Nurse emotion regulation, nurse insecure attachment style and nurse-rated alliance did not significantly predict nurse-rated patient social functioning and correlations were non-significant. Nurse distress was associated with nurse emotion regulation, nurse anxious attachment and nurse-rated alliance. These factors significantly predicted nurse distress. Conclusions: Patient social functioning is predicted by emotion regulation, attachment and alliance. Similarly, nurse distress is predicted by nurse emotion regulation, attachment style and alliance. Interventions targeting emotion regulation or attachment-informed wards would be beneficial.

scholarly journals Insecure attachment and personality disorder: a twin study of adults

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas N. Crawford ◽  
W. John Livesley ◽  
Kerry L. Jang ◽  
Phillip R. Shaver ◽  
Patricia Cohen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personality Disorder ◽  
Twin Study ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Emotional Dysregulation ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Shared Environment ◽  
Anxious Attachment ◽  
Nonshared Environment ◽  
Avoidant Attachment ◽  
Dimensional Assessment

This study used 239 twin pairs from a volunteer community sample to investigate how anxious and avoidant attachment are related to personality disorder (PD). Factor analysis showed that self‐reported anxious attachment and 11 PD scales from the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Problems loaded onto one factor (emotional dysregulation), and avoidant attachment and four PD scales loaded onto a second factor (inhibitedness). Biometric models indicated that 40% of the variance in anxious attachment was heritable, and 63% of its association with corresponding PD dimensions was attributable to common genetic effects. Avoidant attachment was influenced by the shared environment instead of genes. Correlations between avoidance and corresponding PD dimensions were attributable to experiences in the nonshared environment that influenced both variables. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

scholarly journals Emotional Regulation and Overeating Behaviors in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Francesca Favieri ◽  
Andrea Marini ◽  
Maria Casagrande
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Longitudinal Studies ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Inadequate Response ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Relationship

The worldwide prevalence of obesity has dramatically increased, mostly in children and adolescents. The Emotional Eating theoretical model has proposed that the failure in emotional regulation could represent a risk factor for establishing maladaptive overeating behavior that represents an inadequate response to negative emotions and allows increasing body-weight. This systematic review investigates the relationship between overeating and both emotional regulation and emotional intelligence in childhood and adolescence, considering both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Moreover, another goal of the review is evaluating whether emotional regulation and emotional intelligence can cause overeating behaviors. The systematic search was conducted according to the PRISMA-statement in the databases Medline, PsychArtcles, PsychInfo, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Sciences, and allows 484 records to be extracted. Twenty-six studies were selected according to inclusion (e.g., studies focused on children and adolescents without clinical conditions; groups of participants overweight or with obesity) and exclusion (e.g., studies that adopted qualitative assessment or cognitive-affective tasks to measure emotional variables; reviews, commentary, or brief reports) criteria detailed in the methods. Cross-sectional studies showed a negative association between emotional regulation and overeating behavior that was confirmed by longitudinal studies. These findings highlighted the role of maladaptive emotion regulation on overeating and being overweight. The relationship between these constructs in children and adolescents was consistent. The results indicated the complexity of this association, which would be influenced by many physiological, psychological, and social factors. These findings underline the need for further studies focused on emotion regulation in the development of overeating. They should analyze the mediation role of other variables (e.g., attachment style, peer pressure) and identify interventions to prevent and reduce worldwide overweight prevalence.

scholarly journals Self-serving social strategies: A systematic review of social cognition in narcissism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare M. Eddy
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Social Strategies ◽  
Concurrent Administration ◽  
Narcissistic Personality

AbstractNarcissistic Personality Disorder is characterised by inflated self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. The interpersonal difficulties associated with narcissistic personality may be becoming more widespread given its increasing prevalence within the general population. This systematic review investigated the relationship between narcissistic personality traits and social cognition (i.e. theory of mind; emotion recognition; empathy; emotional intelligence) in clinical and non-clinical samples. Cognitive empathy (i.e. perspective taking) appears unlikely to be impaired, while affective empathy (relating to another’s emotion state) may be reduced in association with narcissism. Those with grandiose narcissism rate their empathic skills more highly than those with vulnerable narcissism, but concurrent administration of objective measures is rare, limiting insight into the validity of self-ratings. Rather than deficits in aspects of social cognition, the overall pattern could reflect motivation, or advantageous use of social cognitive skills to serve the self. Indeed, interpersonal strategies associated with narcissism (e.g. deception; manipulation) suggest the application of understanding another’s beliefs or desires in the context of low empathy. Further research should seek to explore performance on a wider range of emotion recognition and theory of mind tasks, and whether characteristics such as excessive jealousy and paranoia could reflect hyper-mentalizing.

scholarly journals Profiles of Emotion Regulation and Post-Traumatic Stress Severity among Female Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 6865
Author(s):  
Marina Muñoz-Rivas ◽  
Ana Bellot ◽  
Ignacio Montorio ◽  
Rosa Ronzón-Tirado ◽  
Natalia Redondo
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Emotional Dysregulation ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Critical Pathway ◽  
Post Traumatic

Emotional dysregulation is a construct that has drawn substantial attention as a transdiagnostic contributing factor to the loss of health. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a term used to describe physical, psychological, or sexual assault of a spouse or sexual partner. The aim of the study was to determine the variability of emotional dysregulation among women with different types of IPV revictimization and post-traumatic stress. The cross-sectional survey included 120 women attended by the Integrated Monitoring System of Gender Violence of Madrid, Spain, due to a gender violence complaint. The presence of post-traumatic stress disorder (DSM 5 criteria), emotional dysregulation (Emotional Processing Scale (EPS)), childhood trauma, and type of revictimization were evaluated. Cluster analysis found three profiles of emotional regulation: Emotionally Regulated, Avoidance/Non-Impoverished, and Emotional Overwhelm. The results showed that the Emotional Overwhelm group was characterized by a general dysregulation of emotional experiences and a greater intensity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. In addition, women who have suffered several episodes of IPV by different partners showed a differential pattern of emotional regulation than the rest of the victims that entailed greater psychopathology. Findings confirm that emotional dysregulation is a critical pathway to the decrease of health among IPV victims.

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