Behavioral activation (BA) is a structured psychotherapeutic approach for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD), which aims at increasing the engagement in activities that might bring enjoyment and meaning to patients’ lives. Although a growing body of evidence supports the effectiveness of BA, enhancing the motivation and activity level of depressed patients is often challenging. In the present study, we explored the effectiveness of a brief BA treatment supported by virtual reality (VR) to facilitate the visualization and anticipation of four pleasurable activities that we tried to re-introduce in the patients’ daily routine. To do so, we conducted a single-case experimental design with multiple baselines in a sample of patients with moderate to severe depressive symptoms. Three overlap analyses across participants and across behaviors were conducted to calculate the rate of improvement of each patient after the delivery of the intervention. Across the three overlap indices, the participants generally showed moderate-to-large improvements in the level of daily activity, as well as in the time spent planning and/or engaging in one or more activities scheduled during the intervention. Furthermore, most patients also reported a moderate-to-large reduction in daily depressive symptoms and improved mood. Overall, the promising results of the present study suggest that the proposed VR-based BA intervention might represent a valid approach to behaviorally activate depressed patients. The barriers and future lines of research of this innovative field are discussed.
The foreign language effect shows that emotional reactivity is reduced when we use a second language instead of our native one to address different situations. The present study aims to test whether the use of cognitive reappraisal could be influenced by the participants language (native/foreign). For this purpose, a sample of 60 participants with subclinical phobia to cockroaches was exposed to several phobic and neutral pictures while they used cognitive reappraisal in their native or in a foreign language. Physiological measures (pupil dilation and electrodermal activity) and self-reports of affective valence and arousal were collected. Results show an overall effectiveness of the strategy of reappraisal in both languages. Additionally, the use of a foreign language depicts a decrease in the affective negativity of the threat stimuli in terms of valence. The ratings of arousal also show a general higher arousal as an effect of the use of a foreign language. The present results suggest that using a foreign language could be advantageous to reduce negative emotionality by reappraisal. However, it could be a barrier for reappraising non-unpleasant pictures. Further studies should explore the foreign language effect in psychotherapy to open new ways of approaching different disorders.
The use of a foreign language has been introduced in the clinical setting as a form of emotional distance to help deal with negative experiences. However, its evidence of reducing emotionality during the emotional processing is still scarce. This study aims to test whether the description and processing of a traumatic or highly emotional event in a foreign language could modulate the strength of the connection between traumatic symptomatology and emotional reaction. For this purpose, a sample of 128 healthy participants completed a series of questionnaires via an online platform. Firstly, their levels of distress, arousal and valence were assessed in their native language. Secondly, they were assigned to either the native language or the foreign language group and described a negative childhood event in the assigned language, followed by five questions adapted from Foa and Rothbaum (1998) and related to the event. Next, their emotionality was assessed again in their native language. Finally, a questionnaire of traumatic stress symptoms and an avoidance scale were completed. Multivariate regression analyses showed that the relationship between traumatic symptomatology and emotionality was moderated by the language of processing the negative event. Traumatic symptomatology was more strongly associated with distress and arousal change when the task was performed in the native language. These findings suggest the influence of a foreign language on emotional reactivity when a negative experience is processed, which could be an essential tool in the treatment of disorders related to stress and trauma.
The use of a foreign language has been introduced in the clinical setting as a form of emotional distance to help deal with negative experiences. However, the evidence of foreign language reducing emotionality during processing negative events is still scarce. This study aims to test whether the description and processing of a traumatic or highly emotional event in a foreign language could modulate the strength of the connection between traumatic symptomatology and emotional reaction. For this purpose, a sample of 128 healthy participants completed a series of questionnaires via an online platform. Firstly, their levels of distress, arousal and valence were assessed in their native language. Secondly, they were assigned to either the native language or the foreign language group and described a negative childhood event in the assigned language (English or Spanish), followed by five questions for processing the event. Next, their emotionality was assessed again in their native language. Finally, a questionnaire of traumatic stress symptoms and an avoidance scale were completed. Results showed that the relationship between traumatic symptomatology and emotionality was moderated by the language of processing the negative event. Specifically, traumatic symptomatology was more strongly associated with distress and arousal change when the processing task was performed in the native language. These findings suggest the influence of a foreign language on emotional reactivity when a negative experience is processed, which could be an essential tool in the treatment of disorders related to stress and trauma.
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