Mindfulness and its relationship to emotional regulation.

Abstract

Research on the effectiveness and mechanisms of mindfulness training applied in psychotherapy is still in its infancy (Erisman & Roemer, 2010). For instance, little is known about the extent and processes through which mindfulness practice improves emotion regulation. This experience sampling study assessed the relationship between mindfulness, emotion differentiation, emotion lability, and emotional difficulties. Young adult participants reported their current emotional experiences 6 times per day during 1 week on a PalmPilot device. Based on these reports of emotions, indices of emotional differentiation and emotion lability were composed for negative and positive emotions. Mindfulness was associated with greater emotion differentiation and less emotional difficulties (i.e., emotion lability and self-reported emotion dysregulation). Mediational models indicated that the relationship between mindfulness and emotion lability was mediated by emotion differentiation. Furthermore, emotion regulation mediated the relationship between mindfulness and both negative emotion lability and positive emotion differentiation. This experience sampling study indicates that self-reported levels of mindfulness are related to higher levels of differentiation of one's discrete emotional experiences in a manner reflective of effective emotion regulation.

The impact of mindfulness on emotion dysregulation and psychophysiological reactivity under emotional provocation.

“…Previous research has demonstrated a significant relationship between mindfulness and a construct termed emotion regulation (e.g., Hill & Updegraff, 2012). Emotion regulation has been defined as the ability to reduce or control negative emotions (Erisman & Roemer, 2010).…”

“…Emotions varied on the dimension of pleasantness-unpleasantness (e.g., positive emotions: happy, content, peaceful; negative emotions: sad, ashamed, nervous) and participants rated their experience of these emotions 1 (not at all) to 7 (a great deal). Hill and Updegraff (2012) considered higher correlations between the Palm Pilot ratings of similarly valenced emotions to reflect lower differentiation; thus, they defined emotion differentiation as the ability to distinguish between similarly valenced emotions (i.e., ratings of the individual's experience of similarly valenced emotions, such as "happy" and "content", would differ). The researchers found that emotion differentiation mediated the relationship between mindfulness and emotion lability.…”

“…Furthermore, in the past the study of mindfulness has often relied solely on self-report measures like the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS; Baer et al, 2004), and emotional ratings using a Likert scale (e.g., Hill & Updegraff, 2012). Despite the strength of reliability and validity of many of the measures utilized in this research, the sole use of subjective measures leaves many questions unanswered, and is often cited as a limitation in this literature (e.g., Vujanovic et al, 2010).…”

“…The DERS assesses six facets of difficulty in regulating emotion: lack of emotional awareness, lack of emotional clarity, nonacceptance of emotional responses, lack of goal-directed behavior, impulsivity, and limited access to emotion regulation strategies. Hill and Updegraff (2012) examined the relationship between mindfulness and aspects of emotion regulation, including emotion differentiation, emotion lability (or shifting between emotions) and emotional difficulties, by employing experience sampling in college undergraduates. In addition to completing self-report measures of mindfulness and emotion regulation, participants reported at predetermined intervals throughout the day their current subjective emotions on a Palm Pilot by rating 21 emotions on a Likert scale.…”

Applications of Mindfulness in Psychotherapy – Contemporary Dilemmas

“…These are: (1) focused attention or concentration, accompanied by tranquility, relaxation, a decrease in anxiety and worries, greater (emotional) stability and joy; (2) open-monitoring (mindfulness per se) with increased (interoceptive) awareness of the body, the emotions and their differentiation (Hill and Updegraff 2012), belief formation, appraisals and other cognitive practices, with concomitant increases in the adjustability and flexibility of mental processes (Shapiro et al 2006); (3) loving kindness and compassion, i.e. a transition from worrisome to loving/accepting attention, providing conditions for positive emotions and stability for psychotherapeutic working-through, and a more compassionate attitude toward life and other beings (Salzberg 2011;Neff et al 2007).…”