The existing empirical literature suggests that during difficult situations, the concurrent experience of positive and negative affects may be ideal for ensuring successful adaptation and well-being. However, different patterns of mixed emotions may have different adaptive consequences. The present research tested the proposition that experiencing a pattern of secondary mixed emotion (i.e., secondary emotion that embrace both positive and negative affects) more greatly promotes adaptive coping than experiencing two other patterns of mixed emotional experiences: simultaneous (i.e., two emotions of opposing affects taking place at the same time) and sequential (i.e., two emotions of opposing affects switching back and forth). Support for this hypothesis was obtained from two experiments (Studies 1 and 2) and a longitudinal survey (Study 3). The results revealed that secondary mixed emotions predominate over sequential and simultaneous mixed emotional experiences in promoting adaptive coping through fostering the motivational and informative functions of emotions; this is done by providing solution-oriented actions rather than avoidance, faster decisions regarding coping strategies (Study 1), easier access to self-knowledge, and better narrative organization (Study 2). Furthermore, individuals characterized as being prone to feeling secondary mixed emotions were more resilient to stress caused by transitions than those who were characterized as being prone to feeling opposing emotions separately (Study 3). Taken together, the preliminary results indicate that the pattern of secondary mixed emotion provides individuals with a higher capacity to handle adversity than the other two patterns of mixed emotional experience.

Aim Humor has long been considered as an effective emotion regulation strategy for people vulnerable to depression, but empirical evidence in this area is scarce. To address this issue, we investigated the emotional consequences of humor in remitted depressed patients and compared them with the effects of positive reappraisal and spontaneous emotion regulation. Methods Fifty‐five patients with remitted major depression took part in a laboratory computer experiment in which they were shown negative pictures twice. First, the patients simply viewed the pictures and rated their reactions. Second, they viewed each of the pictures according to instructions, which are to (a) use humor, (b) use positive reappraisal, or (c) simply view the pictures, and then, they again rated their reactions. Results Humor was found to decrease negative emotions, increase positive emotions, and enhance the distance from adversity; it was more effective than spontaneous emotion regulation and similarly as effective as positive reappraisal. Humor was the most effortful form of emotion regulation. Patients were able to successfully produce humorous comments, and their failure to do so did not lead to worse emotional outcomes than regulating emotions spontaneously. The analyses also indicated that distancing mediates between using humor and the intensity of positive and negative emotions. Conclusions Our findings provide preliminary empirical support for the idea that for individuals vulnerable to depression, humor can be an adaptive tool in dealing with negative responses to aversive events, and, thus, it may impair their potential of these events to trigger depressive episodes. Further studies in this area are warranted to determine the most adaptive forms of humor and analyze their effects in various depressogenic contexts.

Cel pracyCelem badania była ocena skuteczności i bezpieczeństwa leczenia elektrowstrząsowego w populacji pacjentów ≥ 65 latMetodaOmawiane badanie miało charakter naturalistyczny, retrospektywny. Do badania włączono 65 pacjentów, kobiety i mężczyzn hospitalizowanych w oddziałach Instytutu Psychiatrii i Neurologii i poddawanych terapii EW. Analizowano przebieg 615 zabiegów przeprowadzonych w latach 2015-2019. Skuteczność EW oceniano z wykorzystaniem skali CGI-S. Bezpieczeństwo oceniano analizując działania niepożądane terapii, uwzględniając obciążenia somatyczne grupy badanych.WynikiAż 94 % pacjentów wyjściowo spełniało kryteria lekooporności. W badanej grupie nie odnotowano poważnych powikłań takich jak zgon, stan zagrożenia życia, konieczność hospitalizacji na innym oddziale czy trwały uszczerbek na zdrowiu. Łącznie w całej grupie działania niepożądane odnotowano u 47,7% starszych pacjentów, w większości przypadków (88%) miały one niewielkie nasilenie i ustępowały bez stosowania żadnego specyficznego postępowania. Najczęściej obserwowanym działaniem niepożądanym EW były wzrosty ciśnienia tętniczego (55,4%). Czterech pacjentów nie ukończyło terapii EW z powodu działań niepożądanych. U większości badanych (86,2%) wykonano co najmniej 8 zabiegów w serii. Zabiegi EW okazały się być skuteczną metodą leczenia w populacji pacjentów po 65 roku życia - reakcję na leczenie stwierdzono u 76,92% chorych, a remisję u 49, 23% leczonych osób. Wyjściowe nasilenie choroby w skali CGI-S wyniosło średnio 5,54, po leczeniu EW 2,67.WnioskiTolerancja zabiegów jest po 65 r.ż gorsza niż u młodszych pacjentów, większość działań niepożądanych jest związana z wyjściowymi obciążeniami somatycznymi, głównie dotyczącymi układu sercowo-naczyniowego. Nie zmienia to faktu, że terapia EW jest w tej populacji wysoce skuteczna i może stanowić bardzo dobrą alternatywę dla często nieskutecznej lub powodującej uboczne działania farmakoterapii.

The existing research on sense of humour in schizophrenia is focused on two main areas, mainly, assessment of patients' abilities to understand and appreciate humour and denoting the possibilities of its application in therapeutic programs concentrating on the improvement of patients' functionality and preventing illness relapses. The vast majority of the conclusions from the above mentioned research corroborate the opinion on the usefulness of developing and reinforcing sense of humour in schizophrenia, emphasizing its beneficial effect on the patients' quality of life, above all, in terms of reducing aggression, anxiety and depression as well as improving general life satisfaction and social functioning. At the same time numerous research indicate low reception of humour in schizophrenia which can negatively influence its effective usage in therapeutic interventions. Further constraint with regard to the therapy can constitute an intensified fear for being laughed at, which has been confirmed in numerous empirical reports. Therefore, it seems that addressing humorous therapeutic interventions to the above mentioned group of patients requires especially careful planning taking into consideration its cognitive and affective limitations in the perception of humour and intensified fear for being laughed at.

Enhancing emotion regulation among previously depressed people is crucial for improving their resilience and reducing relapse. Therefore, emphasis is placed on determining effective regulation strategies, particularly those that, besides down-regulating negative emotions, also up-regulate positive emotions. One promising strategy, with great potential in both these respects, is humor. It is unclear, however, what type of humor is most adaptive in remitted depression. This study compared two distinct humor-based strategies: stress-related humor and stress-unrelated humor. Outpatients with remitted depression (N = 94) participated in a randomized experiment evoking personal stress and the subsequent application of stress-related humor, stress-unrelated humor, or a non-humorous regulation. They repeatedly reported positive and negative emotions (at four time points) and experienced distress (at three time points). There were also assessments of selective attention, subsequent performance, effort, and intrusive thoughts. Unlike non-humorous regulation, humor-based strategies had adaptive consequences, both immediately and after a delay; however, stress-unrelated humor was most beneficial and was the only effective strategy when attention deficits were present. Humor, especially if unrelated to stressors, might broaden the repertoire of powerful emotion regulation strategies in remitted depression. Humorous focusing on distress can be detrimental for patients with attention impairment.Clinical trial registration: The study was registered under the number ISRCTN86314628 (20/09/2021).