Psychological distancing, a form of cognitive reappraisal, involves construal of emotionally valenced stimuli in an objective manner, or with perceived spatial and temporal distance. Prior work suggests that in appropriate contexts, reappraisal broadly, and distancing specifically, is related to adaptive mental and physical health outcomes. Additionally, recent research suggests that shifting language to be more distant (i.e., linguistic distancing [LD]) can have adaptive emotion regulatory effects. The present study addressed whether LD is also associated with adaptive health indicators. Participants transcribed their thoughts while viewing negative or neutral stimuli in one of three ways: (a) by implementing objective language, (b) by implementing spatially and/or temporally far away language, or (c) by responding naturally. Across psychological distancing groups, LD was associated with lower negative affectivity (lower perceived stress and depression symptoms), better general well‐being (better emotional well‐being and energy and vitality), and better emotion regulation (ER; greater reappraisal frequency and fewer difficulties in implementing ER). Participants who used more LD in the objective group had lower negative affectivity, better general well‐being, and better ER, and those in the far group had better ER. The results reveal linguistic mechanisms underlying ER and its relationship to health indicators, suggesting future examination of LD interventions.

Grief is conceptualized by strong negative emotions, which include longing, sadness, and preoccupations with thoughts, recollections, and images of the spouse. In the initial months after the loss of a spouse, those who are widowed are at risk for cardiovascular problems and premature mortality. In the general population, depression is characterized by chronic low-grade inflammation, a key predictor of cardiovascular problems, morbidity, and mortality. Although depression and grief share similarities, they are distinct constructs. We aimed to identify if grief was related to inflammation among those who had a spouse recently die. We also sought to determine if those who are widowed and already experience elevated levels of depressive symptoms compared with the general population had higher levels of inflammation compared with those who are widowed who report fewer depressive symptoms. Ninety-nine recently bereaved individuals (M=84.74 days since passing, SD=18.17) completed a blood draw and psychological assessments. Proinflammatory T cell-derived cytokines were assessed, which included interferon gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), IL17-A, and IL-2. Bereaved individuals with a higher grief severity (using an established cut-score) had higher levels of the proinflammatory cytokines IFN-γ, IL-6, and TNF-α than those with less grief severity. Those who experienced higher levels of depression exhibited elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines compared with those who had lower levels of depression (using a continuous measure of depressive symptoms, as well as an established cut score). This is the first study to demonstrate that inflammatory markers can distinguish those who are widowed based on grief severity such that those who are higher on grief severity have higher levels of inflammation compared with

Emotion regulation often is an adaptive option in the face of elevated perceived stress. Perceived stress has been shown to have negative consequences for physical and mental health, including cognitive deficits and difficulties controlling attention. Cognitive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy that involves changing one's cognitive construal of an emotionally evocative stimulus to alter its emotional impact. Reappraisal can be implemented explicitly or implicitly (i.e., with or without conscious awareness). The objective of the present study was to examine whether implicit cognitive reappraisal during exposure to negative stimuli moderates the relationship between inattention and perceived stress. We found, as expected, that inattention problems are associated with increased perceived stress, but also found that one's spontaneous propensity to engage in cognitive reappraisal-as indexed by correspondence with a reliable thresholded whole-brain pattern of reappraisal implementationmoderated the relationship between inattention and perceived stress. Overall, the current study provides evidence that spontaneous reappraisal recruitment has a buffering effect on the relationship between inattention and perceived stress.

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The degree to which one employs an objective or spatially/temporally distant perspective via language, i.e., linguistic distancing, has previously been shown to be positively associated with well-being. We sought to further elucidate relationships among language and emotion over time as a function of the implementation of sub-tactics of psychological distancing. In Study 1, we developed novel deep machine learning algorithms to identify the degree to which linguistic patterns reflect two types of psychological distancing, namely objective (OBJ) and spatial/temporal (FAR) distancing. In Study 2, in an expressive writing-based longitudinal emotion regulation training task, participants transcribed their thoughts while viewing negative or neutral stimuli over 5 sessions in one of three ways: by implementing objective language (objective group), by implementing spatially/temporally distant language (far group), or by responding naturally. We found that the OBJ and FAR algorithms significantly predicted changes in task-based self-reported negative affect in the objective group and found no significant associations in the far group. The relationship between the algorithm scores and self-reported negative affect was stronger in the objective group compared to the far group. These findings describe sensitive linguistic distancing algorithms that are capable of tracking changes in self-reported negative affect. These results may be useful in developing novel, unobtrusive emotion regulation assessments and interventions that utilize natural language processing.