Beliefs about emotions predict psychological stress related to somatic symptoms

Abstract

BackgroundPrevious research has shown that the more people believe their emotions are controllable and useful (BECU), the less they generally report psychological distress. Psychological distress, in turn, impacts health outcomes, and is among the most frequently reported complaints in psychotherapeutic and psychosomatic practice.ObjectiveWe aimed to examine how BECU predicts psychological distress related to somatic symptoms in a prospective sample from the general population and to replicate this association in two cross‐sectional samples of psychosomatic patients.MethodsWe applied a panel design with an interval of 2 weeks between T1 and T2 in general‐population panel‐participants (N = 310), assessing BECU and psychological distress related to somatic symptoms via validated self‐report measures. Moreover, we cross‐sectionally replicated the relationship between BECU and psychological distress in a clinical sample of psychosomatic outpatients diagnosed with somatoform disorders (n = 101) or without somatoform disorders (n = 628).ResultsBECU predicted over and above the lagged criterion panel‐participants' psychological distress related to somatic symptoms, β = −.18, p < .001. BECU was also cross‐sectionally related to psychological distress in our clinical replication‐sample of psychosomatic outpatients diagnosed with somatoform disorders, rS(87) = −.33, p = .002 and in those without, rS(557) = ‐.21, p < .001.ConclusionsBECU as a malleable way of thinking about emotions predicted psychological distress related to somatic symptoms in general‐population panel‐participants and correlated with the same in two clinical replication samples. BECU thus becomes a promising treatment target in psychotherapeutic approaches.

Validation of the German version of the Comparative Psychotherapy Process Scale.

“…Owen et al, 2023). It could also become clearer which differentiating PD and which differentiating CBT interventions are particularly related to psychotherapy successes (also with reference to specific mental illnesses; e.g., the focus on affect and the expression of patients’ emotions: e.g., Biel et al, 2023; Henley, 2023; Reininger et al, 2023). This intervention psychotherapy-success link could possibly inform integrative efforts, such as the establishment of a psychotherapeutic alliance independent of the psychotherapeutic procedure (Groth et al, 2020; Groth & Hilsenroth, 2021).…”