Choosing to avoid the positive? Emotion regulation strategy choice in depression.

Abstract

Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) are more likely than nondepressed individuals to use emotion regulation strategies that decrease pleasant emotions (e.g., distraction from positive stimuli) and increase unpleasant emotions (e.g., negative rumination). If such strategies are actively chosen, these choices may partly reflect weaker motivation for pleasant emotions or stronger motivation for unpleasant emotions. Therefore, this investigation tested, for the first time, whether such strategies are actively chosen, even when alternatives are available. In Study 1, using a behavioral task, MDD participants (N = 38) were more likely than healthy controls (N = 39) to choose to use distraction over positive rumination in response to pleasant stimuli, resulting in reductions in pleasant affect. When instructed to choose the strategy that would make them feel better, however, MDD participants did not differ from controls in their strategy choices. In Study 2, using ecological momentary assessments, MDD participants (N = 58) were more likely than controls (N = 62) to use distraction from pleasant emotions and to use negative rumination in daily life. This pattern of strategy use was predicted by stronger motivation for unpleasant emotions among MDD participants, compared to controls. Stronger motivation for unpleasant emotions in daily life also predicted increases in unpleasant affect and decreases in pleasant affect. Findings suggest that compared to nondepressed individuals, people with MDD are more likely to choose emotion regulation strategies that decrease pleasant emotions.

Stuck with the foot on the pedal: Depression and motivated emotion regulation in daily life.

“…All participants were university students and Israeli Jewish adults. Participants in the depressed group had significantly higher PHQ-9 scores than the healthy controls, but there were no significant differences between groups in gender, age, education level, or employment status (see Table 2 in Millgram et al, 2023, for additional demographic information and clinical characteristics). Regarding compliance, participants completed, on average, 79.28% of the surveys (SD = 17.58%).…”

“…Indeed, if regulatory effort is insensitive to regulatory needs, it could lead to dysfunctional emotion regulation, as characteristic of depression (e.g., Sheppes et al, 2015). Research on emotion regulation deficits in depression has focused separately on what people do to regulate (e.g., Millgram et al, 2023) or the goals they pursue (e.g., Millgram et al, 2015Millgram et al, , 2019, but little attention has been devoted to the association between effort in emotion regulation and the goals people pursue. To this end, we tested whether depressed and nondepressed individuals differ in the extent to which they match regulatory efforts to emotion goal discrepancies.…”