Positive Emotion Infusions: Can Savoring Increase Help‐Seeking Intentions among People with Depression?

Abstract

Background:The current research effort used two experimental studies to assess whether a savoring-based, positive emotion infusion (PEI) could increase helpseeking intentions among individuals with elevated depressive symptomatology and whether this relationship would be mediated by positive emotion, arousal, and perceptions of personal control. Methods: In Study 1, participants with elevated depressive symptomatology, recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N = 135), were randomly assigned to complete a 6-minute savoring or control writing task followed by a help-seeking intentions scale. Study 2 participants (N = 136) were randomly assigned to the same tasks, but a scale assessing positive emotion, arousal, and personal control was added. Results: Study 1 indicated a direct effect; those who savored reported greater help-seeking intentions compared to control participants. Study 2 revealed an indirect effect of savoring on help-seeking intentions through greater positive emotion but not through greater arousal or perceptions of personal control. Conclusion: Together, these results offer additional support for continued research on PEIs, and specifically, savoring-based PEIs. Although the experimental manipulations may be limited in regard to their ecological validity, for those seeking to create interventions, these studies offer a novel and efficacious approach for motivating individuals with elevated depressive symptomatology to seek help.

Differential Effects of High‐ and Low‐Arousal Positive Emotions on Help‐Seeking for Depression

“…Following the arousal items, participants completed three attention checks. Two attention checks were hidden within a set of five items that measured mental uneasiness (Straszewski & Siegel, 2018). Participants were asked to select a particular response option (e.g.…”

“…Condition Checks. As in Straszewski and Siegel (2018), participants' written responses served as a condition check. Each participant's responses were read twice by the first author, and any responses that were deemed questionable were then independently reviewed by the second author.…”

“…As the purpose of the current studies was to extend prior work by Straszewski and Siegel (2018), the format of the writing tasks was similar to that used in their prior studies with the exception that the memory recalled had to have occurred recently rather than during the past week. The rationale was that participants might not have experienced a moment of excitement or calmness within the last week.…”

“…Looking to build upon the potential of the PEI approach, Straszewski and Siegel (2018) turned to savoring as a method to temporarily boost positive emotion with the goal of increasing help-seeking intentions. Savoring is the process of enhancing or prolonging a person's positive emotional state following positive experiences (Bryant & Veroff, ).…”

“…Considering savoring's relationship with happiness and control beliefs (Bryant & Veroff, ), Straszewski and Siegel explored whether savoring could be used to increase help-seeking intentions for people with heightened depressive symptomatology. Straszewski and Siegel (2018) asked participants to savor a prior positive experience. There were two reasons for this approach.…”