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The most common reason for help-seeking in ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis patients is comorbid symptoms, mainly anxiety and depression. However, psychological interventions are mainly focused on subthreshold psychotic symptoms. There is a growing push to include transdiagnostic therapies in specialized intervention teams for psychosis in young people. The Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP) has demonstrated efficacy in emotional disorders, and its application has recently expanded to other pathologies such as borderline personality disorder (BPD) and bipolar disorder (BD). This pilot study was conducted with 36 patients with UHR for psychosis and symptoms of comorbid emotional disorders who were receiving treatment in an early intervention programme for psychosis. This is a randomised control trial (RCT) with two conditions: treatment as usual (TAU) with the group and online application of the UP (UP+TAU) (n = 18) and TAU (n = 18). Evaluations were conducted at baseline, after treatment, and at the three-month follow-up. Comorbid anxiety and depression symptoms improved significantly in patients in the UP+TAU group compared to those in the TAU. Significant improvements in negative affect, emotional dysregulation, neuroticism, extraversion, functioning, and quality of life were also observed, and satisfaction with the intervention was high. UP may be an acceptable and effective intervention for the treatment of symptoms of comorbid emotional disorders in patients with UHR for psychosis. The sample size was small, and further studies are needed to test this intervention with larger samples of patients with UHR for psychosis with emotional comorbidities. • This is the first study about the efficacy of UP in UHR patients for psychosis. • UP was effective in reducing anxiety and depression symptoms in patients with UHR. • UP was effective in reducing negative affect and neuroticism in patients with UHR. • UP was effective in increasing positive affect, extraversion and emotion regulation. • Patients in the UP condition showed a tendency towards greater improvement in UHR symptoms. • Early intervention services for psychosis can benefit from integrating the UP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have shown that exposure to potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) in deployment situations facilitates higher suicide risk among combatants. However, knowledge about pre-deployment factors that may moderate the negative contribution of PMIEs to suicide risk is rare. In this prospective study, we examined pre-enlistment characteristics and pre-deployment personality factors as possible moderators in the link between exposure to self, other, and betrayal dimensions of PMIEs and post-deployment suicide risk among Israeli active-duty combatants. A sample of 335 active-duty Israeli combatants participated in a 2.5-year prospective study with three waves of measurements: T1—12 months before enlistment, T2—6 months following enlistment (pre-deployment), and T3—18 months following enlistment (post-deployment). Participants were assessed via semi-structured interviews of personal characteristics (e.g., cognitive index) at T1, validated self-report measures of personality factors for emotional regulation, impulsivity, and aggression at T2, and combat exposure, PMIEs, and suicide risk at T3 between 2019 and 2021. All three dimensions of PMIEs were significantly associated with higher suicidal risk among combatants. Importantly, higher levels of pre-deployment aggression and lower levels of emotional regulation moderated the association between PMIEs and suicide risk post-deployment, above and beyond pre-enlistment psychiatric difficulties and life events. Our results highlight the roles of pre-deployment factors of emotional regulation and aggressiveness as possible moderators in the PMIEs-suicide risk link. These results emphasize the need for higher awareness of suicide risk among deployed combatants with low emotional regulation and high aggressiveness. Moreover, tailored interventions aiming to decrease emotional dysregulation and aggressiveness levels should be considered, as such interventions may help reduce suicide risk following combat-related transgressive acts. • PMIEs significantly associated with higher suicidal risk among combatants. • Pre-deployment factors of emotional regulation and aggressiveness moderate the PMIEs-suicide risk post deployment link. • Results highlight the importance of awareness to suicide risk following MI-related experiences among combatants [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A complex and bidirectional relationship between eating and psychological symptoms in individuals with obesity has been proposed. This study aims to identify the specific processes playing a role in this association, using a data-driven approach. Two hundred ninety-four adults with obesity, including 106 (36 %) with binge-eating disorder, were consecutively admitted to a specialized public center. They completed self-report questionnaires to assess emotion regulation, interpersonal problems, self-esteem, binge-eating symptoms, and expectancies regarding eating behaviors. To assess the interplay among eating and psychological variables, a network analysis was used. The bridge function analysis was also performed to identify the bridge nodes among three communities (eating symptoms, interpersonal and emotional problems). The network was stable. Limited access to emotion regulation strategies, eating helps manage negative affect, and non-assertiveness were the nodes with the highest strength centrality. Lack of emotional clarity, non-assertiveness, socially inhibition, and binge-eating were the nodes with the highest bridge strength. The main limitation of the study is the cross-sectional nature of the findings which prevents to infer causality regarding the association between symptoms in the network. An interplay between eating symptoms and affective and interpersonal factors characterizes individuals with obesity. Across the variety of psychological problems associated with obesity, the present study suggests specific psychological variables and their connections that could be addressed to improve treatment outcome. • A complex interplay occurre between psychosocial factors and eating symptoms in individuals with obesity • Limited access to emotion regulation strategies, eating helps manage negative affect, and non-assertiveness are the most central network nodes • These nodes and their connections may represent treatment targets in individuals with obesity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) is one of the most common mental disorders in parents after birth. To develop tailored preventive programs, it is necessary to identify risk factors for PPD in parents. This study aimed to examine the impact of parental childhood maltreatment (CM) as a risk factor for PPD., Methods: Data from a German study comprising n = 349 mothers and n = 46 fathers were used. Hierarchical regression models were performed to examine CM, educational background, single parenthood, emotion regulation and attachment style as predictors of symptoms of PPD. In exploratory analyses, potential mediators (i.e., parenting stress and emotion regulation) were investigated via a path model., Results: CM, low level of education, difficulties in emotion regulation, and attachment anxiety were significant predictors for maternal PPD [R 2  = 0.52, F (6, 305) = 57.99, p < .001]. For fathers, difficulties in emotion regulation were identified as a predictor [R 2  = 0.43, F (6, 24) = 4.78, p < .01]. In exploratory analyses, emotion regulation served as a mediator for the link between CM and PPD as well as for the link between CM and parenting stress., Limitations: The study design is cross-sectional and based on self-report questionnaires. Despite our attempts, only few fathers participated in the study, resulting in an underpowered sample for the regression analyses., Conclusions: The study confirmed the assumption that CM experiences represent a risk factor for the development of maternal PPD. Emotion regulation might provide a pivotal target for interventions with parents at-risk., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors have no conflict of interest to report., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Anxiety commonly occurs after experiencing negative life events. However, the role of emotion regulation strategies in moderating the relationship between negative life events and anxiety remains unclear. The current study 1) examines the associations between emotion regulation strategies and trait anxiety, and 2) explores whether the relationship between negative life events and trait anxiety is moderated by emotion regulation strategies, in particular, adaptative strategies such as cognitive reappraisal., Methods: We used data from 1384 adolescents and young adults (ages 12-27) who completed measures of negative life events, emotion regulation strategies, and trait anxiety. Emotion regulation was measured using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale - Short Form., Results: Multiple regression analyses showed that limited access to emotion regulation strategies, difficulty engaging in goal-directed behavior, lack of emotional awareness, lack of emotional clarity, nonacceptance of emotional responses, and use of cognitive reappraisal were associated with trait anxiety. Additionally, the positive association between negative life events and trait anxiety was moderated by difficulty engaging in goal-directed behavior and use of cognitive reappraisal. Sex differences were apparent for difficulty engaging in goal-directed behavior. Age-based analyses revealed that these interactions were specific to young adults., Limitations: Limitations include a cross-sectional design and reliance on self-report measures., Conclusions: Less use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies was associated with greater trait anxiety. Further, the relationship between negative life events and trait anxiety in young adults may depend on one's ability to engage in goal-directed behavior and use cognitive reappraisal., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Sexual minority adolescents experience disproportionate mental health problems, including increased anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Minority Stress Theory posits that sexual minority people experience significantly more stress (e.g., via discrimination or prejudice) in their everyday lives, which can underlie these mental health disparities. Though group differences in mental health symptoms are well-documented, there has been less focus on symptom trajectories, which is critical for identifying effective mental health interventions., Method: Seventy adolescents ages 13-19 years enrolled in a short-term, acute residential psychiatric treatment program provided self-report measures of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and emotion regulation difficulties at baseline, discharge (∼2 weeks), and one-month post-treatment follow-up. Adolescents self-reported sexual orientation and were stratified into sexual minority (SM, n = 37) or heterosexual (n = 33) groups., Results: Depressive and anxiety symptoms and emotion dysregulation scores were significantly reduced at follow-up, compared to baseline. While there were no significant group x time interactions for depressive and anxiety symptoms, the SM group entered the program with worse emotion dysregulation scores, which improved more over time compared to the heterosexual group., Conclusion: These findings show that although sexual minority individuals can make substantial gains during residential treatment, emotion regulation difficulties are a particularly relevant treatment target. Emotion regulation, a transdiagnostic construct that typically develops substantially during adolescence, might be of critical importance when identifying effective treatment interventions for sexual minority youth., Limitations: Adolescents in this sample demonstrated limited racial diversity and likely displayed a higher degree of psychopathology than the general population., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Empathic behavior is crucial in promoting positive social outcomes and strengthening interpersonal bonds. Research on how empathy modulates responses to others' emotions remains scarce yet is fundamental for elucidating mechanisms of impaired social functioning in psychopathology and its treatment., Methods: Two ecological momentary assessment studies (Ns = 125 and 204) investigated participants' empathy and usage of interpersonal emotion regulation strategies in 5537 social interactions. We measured empathy, a multi-faceted construct, as dissected into its components of mentalizing and experience sharing in Study 1, while Study 2 additionally investigated empathic concern and personal distress., Results: Findings revealed that empathizers engage in significantly increased other-focused regulation, especially when feeling empathic concern. We also found differences in the strengths of the links between empathy and responses to others' emotions: When we mentalize, share others' emotions, or feel concerned, we choose more relationship-oriented strategies, including validation and soothing, and less cognitive reappraisal and avoidance to regulate others' emotions. In contrast, when personally distressed by others' emotions, we select more cognitive reappraisal and avoidance and less relationship-oriented strategies., Limitations: Both studies relied on regulator reports., Conclusions: Empathy facets distinctly shape our responses to others' emotions and can make us increasingly emotionally responsive and relationship-oriented. Understanding these dynamics can enhance the treatment of affective disorders characterized by deficits in social functioning., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Shortening existing instruments is a highly required procedure, as short scales may have several advantages over the long versions, especially in time and/or resources restrictions. However, abbreviated forms may be weaker than their parent versions from both content coverage and psychometric robustness. Also, the abridgment of instruments is often lacking in methodological strictness, and the potential drawbacks of the shortened scales are rarely reported. The current study aims to describe the whole process of scale shortening, emphasizing the potential costs and benefits, in terms of balance between time-resource savings and loss of validity and reliability. We shortened the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), involving a sample of 459 participants (53.2% males). Item reduction was driven by searching to preserve the content breadth of the construct and scale's psychometric quality. Our results supported the two-factor structure of the measure (Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression), χ 2 (8)  = 11.357 ns, CFI = 0.995, TLI = 0.990, RMSEA = 0.030 (0.000-0.067), SRMR = 0.031, and three items were selected for each subscale. The two intended factors showed good levels of reliability (α > 0.710). A latent variable model was performed to evaluate how the original ERQ and our proposed short version (ERQS) were related to depression, anxiety, and stress: A similar pattern of associations was found, with Cognitive Reappraisal (negatively) and Expressive Suppression (positively) reporting significant but weak associations. The ERQ-S can be beneficial over the original version, as it effectively assesses the two emotion regulation strategies with a trivial loss in reliability and predictive validity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The study explored the intricate relationship between political armed conflict, mental health outcomes, and emotion regulation strategies, focusing on cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression. Drawing on extensive literature, we examined the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on mental health, particularly post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and anxiety. Using data from a nationally representative sample of 517 Israeli adults surveyed four weeks after the October 7 war began, we conducted path analysis to examine the direct and indirect effects of conflict exposure on mental health outcomes mediated by emotion regulation. Cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with well-being, while emotion suppression was linked to higher levels of PTSS and anxiety and lower levels of well-being. Subjective exposure to war events was associated with higher levels of anxiety and PTSS, and cognitive reappraisal served as a protective factor for overall well-being. We also observed ethnicity, age, and gender differences in exposure levels and mental health outcomes. Emotion regulation emerges as a crucial factor in navigating the psychological challenges posed by war exposure, with cognitive reappraisal associated with positive mental health outcomes and emotion suppression linked to adverse effects., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is prevalent among emerging adults in post-secondary school, but little is known about change and stability in NSSI during the transition to university. Moreover, there has been limited person-centered work focusing on heterogeneity in NSSI engagement among students over time. The present study aimed to investigate the development and maintenance of NSSI across the first year of university and explore predictors of potential variability in trajectories of NSSI., Methods: The present sample consisted of 1125 first-year university students at a large post-secondary institution (Mage = 17.96, 71 % female, 28 % male, 1 % gender diverse) who participated in a larger longitudinal study. Participants completed an online survey three times over their first year of university. Latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) in Mplus was utilized to explore different NSSI group trajectories across first year university., Results: NSSI was prevalent among first year students (35 %). LGCM revealed one developmental trajectory; NSSI engagement decreased across the first year of university. Students who engaged in NSSI had increased difficulties with emotion regulation, lower self-compassion, and lower levels of social support compared to students who did not engage in NSSI., Limitations: The present study may be subject to recall errors and future studies should include more gender diverse samples to increase generalization of findings., Conclusions: Findings highlight the transition to university as a peak period of vulnerability for NSSI engagement and emphasize the need for proactive university intervention efforts to mitigate risk and improve student well-being., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Limited research has explored the course of harsh parenting practices throughout childhood and adolescence and its impact on socioemotional competences from a longitudinal perspective. This study examined the association between harsh parenting trajectories and socioemotional competences at age 18., Methods: Data from the 2004 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort study, originally comprising 4231 live births, were used. Harsh parenting was measured using the parent-report version of the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale at ages 6, 11, 15 and 17 years, and trajectories were identified using a group-based modelling approach. Socioemotional competences were emotion regulation, assessed by the Emotional Regulation Index for Children and Adolescents; self-esteem, measured by the self-report Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale; prosocial behaviour and peer relationship problems, both assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multivariate linear and Poisson regression models were applied to examine the effects of harsh parenting trajectories on socioemotional competences, adjusting for confounding variables., Results: We identified three trajectories: a "low harsh parenting" trajectory (49.7 %), a "moderate harsh parenting" (44.7 %), and a "high harsh parenting" trajectory (5.6 %). Compared to those belonging to the low harsh parenting trajectory group, adolescents who experienced either a moderate or high harsh parenting trajectory exhibited lower scores in emotion regulation, self-esteem, and prosocial behaviour scales, along with higher scores of peer relationships problems., Limitations: Data on harsh parenting at 15 and 17 years were available only for a sub-sample., Conclusions: Our study extends the evidence of the adverse effects of persistent harsh parenting on socioemotional competences during adolescence., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: While there have been some studies examining the post-traumatic growth (PTG) responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, few have been longitudinal studies exploring the changes over time or examining the underlying psychological PTG mechanisms. This study examined whether baseline perceived emotional intelligence (EI) predicted PTG through self-esteem and emotional regulation (ER) in a five-month follow-up study conducted on Chinese adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Validated measures were completed by 2090 participants, which assessed both the perceived EI and the PTG 1 month after a nationwide lockdown in China, with 1609 of these participating in the follow-up five months later. Structural equation models (SEM) were then used to explore the paths between the variables.Results: As hypothesized, the follow-up survey found that the baseline perceived EI predicted PTG, ER, and self-esteem outcomes. The SEM analyses also revealed that self-esteem and ER significantly mediated the association between EI and PTG.Limitations: Studies of three or more waves may be more suitable for longitudinal mediation analyses. Self-assessment reports may have subjective effects.Conclusions: It was concluded that perceived EI might improve PTG in adolescents following the COVID-19 pandemic, and self-esteem and ER program training could be helpful in promoting PTG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Despite a well-documented association between childhood traumatic brain injury and elevated risk for internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, the mechanisms through which family functioning contributes to individual variation in these behavioral outcomes remains poorly understood. This prospective cohort study aimed to assess the respective contribution of family functioning and child emotion regulation (ER) to post-injury behavior problems at 1-year follow-up, with a specific focus on evaluating the role of ER problems in mediating the effects of familial affective responsiveness and communication on child behavioral outcomes., Method: The study included 129 participants, comprising 86 children with medically confirmed mild-to-severe TBI, identified from consecutive hospital admissions, and 43 typically developing (TD) control children, of similar age and sex. Participants ranged in age from 6 to 15 years (mean age = 11.2 years). Parents completed validated assessments of post-acute family functioning and child emotion regulation problems at 6 months post-injury, as well as measures of child behavior problems at 1-year post-injury., Results: Although group differences in internalizing behaviors did not reach statistical significance, the TBI group exhibited significantly higher overall externalizing symptoms and was significantly more likely to display clinically elevated symptoms than TD controls at 1-year post-injury. Compared to TD controls, the TBI group displayed significantly greater ER problems, which mediated the effects of lower familial affective responsiveness and communication on child behavior problems 1-year-post-injury., Conclusions: Evidence for these robust, prospective associations suggests that child emotion regulation problems play a key role in mediating the effect of post-acute family functioning on long-term behavior problems in children with TBI. Early assessment and screening for relevant risk factors may help identify those children and families who could benefit from therapeutic interventions designed to address emotional dysregulation and mitigate risk for post-injury behavioral problems. Importantly, these findings underscore the value of adopting family-centred care approaches in rehabilitation, where involving families in therapeutic processes and addressing family dynamics may enhance child emotion regulation and improve long-term behavioral outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Vicki Anderson reports financial support was provided by Victoria Neurotrauma Initiative. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Although previous studies demonstrated an association between fast food intake and anxiety symptoms in adolescents, this relationship has not been studied in Chinese multi-ethnic adolescents. The purpose of this study is to investigate the aforementioned association and the potential moderating effect of regulatory emotional self-efficacy (RESE) among Chinese multi-ethnic adolescents., Methods: A cluster random sampling of 8500 middle school students from 11 counties in Yunnan province was conducted. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 was utilized to assess anxiety symptoms, while the food frequency questionnaire was employed to gather data on eating behaviors. The association between fast food intake, RESE, and anxiety symptoms was analyzed using generalized linear models. The moderating effect of RESE on the association between fast food intake and anxiety symptoms was examined using structural equation models., Results: The positive rate of anxiety symptoms in middle school students was 48.5 % (4120/8500). The positive rate of depressive symptoms in females (53.3 %, 2301/4316) was higher than that in males (43.5 %, 1819/4184). Chinese fast food intake (males vs females: β = 0.26, 95%CI:0.14-0.39; β = 0.16, 95%CI:0.02-0.29), expressing positive affect (β = -0.04, 95%CI:-0.07-0.01; β = -0.06, 95%CI:-0.10-0.03) and managing anger/irritation affect (β = -0.11, 95%CI:-0.14-0.08; β = -0.16, 95%CI:-0.19-0.12) was associated with anxiety symptoms in males and females (all P < 0.05). Takeaway fast food intake (β = 0.19, 95%CI:0.02-0.35) and managing despondency/distress affect (β = -0.08, 95%CI:-0.12-0.04, P < 0.001) was associated with anxiety symptoms in females (all P < 0.05). RESE significantly inversely moderated the association between fast food intake and anxiety symptoms (all participants: β = -0.11; males: β = - 0.08; females: β = - 0.14; all P < 0.01)., Limitations: Association observed in the cross-sectional study is uncertain and need to be confirmed in cohort studies., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that fast food intake may be associated with an increased risk of anxiety symptoms among Chinese multi-ethnic adolescents, while good RESE can potentially mitigate this risk., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: While a substantial body of research has demonstrated associations between family factors and adolescent suicide risk, little is known about whether maternal mentalizing and emotion regulation play a role in adolescent suicide risk. The objective of this study was to test whether maternal mentalizing and maternal emotion regulation strategies are related to adolescent suicide risk through adolescents' mentalizing ability and emotion regulation strategies., Method: A total of 130 adolescents and young adults (63.6 % female; aged 15-23 years) and their mothers completed a series of self-report questionnaires assessing their suicide risk, anxiety and depression, mentalizing difficulties and cognitive emotion regulation strategies., Results: Structural equation modeling revealed significant indirect effects between adolescent mentalizing and adolescent suicide risk through adolescent adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation. The results also showed a moderating effect of adolescent anxiety and depression on the relationships between adaptive emotion regulation strategies and suicide risk in adolescents and young adults. Importantly, maternal maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (i.e., self-blame and catastrophizing) have significant effects on suicidal risk through mentalizing difficulties and adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in adolescents and young adults., Conclusions: Our findings provide preliminary support for the specific roles of maternal emotion regulation strategies by demonstrating that a higher use of maternal maladaptive emotion regulation strategies are associated with less adolescent mentalizing, which in turn contributes to a higher use of maladaptive strategies and a lower use of adaptive strategies among adolescents, thus increasing the risk of suicide in adolescence and young adulthood., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Karyn Doba reports was provided by University of Lille. No Conflict of Interest Statement If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Alexithymia is characterized by an impaired ability in emotion awareness, expression, and regulation, associated with deficits in social and mental functioning. This study aims to develop a tool for addressing alexithymia and its psychological outcomes., Method: In this paper, 102 subjects were recruited to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and psychological outcomes, along with the mediating role of emotion awareness, expression, and regulation. Based on these findings, we propose an Enhanced Emotion Expression (3E) system, an interactive VR platform that integrates emotion arousal, mindfulness, open-ended questions, and metaphor, designed to equip users with effective emotional management skills. We present the system's design and implementation, as well as user studies., Results: We demonstrate the mediating role of emotion awareness, expression and regulation in the relationship between alexithymia and psychological outcomes (anxiety: 95 % CI = 0.002-0.189; depression: 95 % CI = 0.002-0.164). Furthermore, our findings indicate that the proposed 3E system can effectively guide users in becoming aware of, expressing, and regulating their emotions (ts = -2.185-2.860, Ps = 0.009-0.04), thus alleviating alexithymia, anxiety, and depression (ts = 2.404-3.775, Ps = 0.003-0.043)., Limitations: The limitations of this study include the use of self-reports, the lack of investigation into other mediating variables, a small sample size, and the absence of long-term follow-up., Conclusions: We have developed intervention strategies to address alexithymia and proposed an innovative 3E system. This system provides an effective tool for mitigating alexithymia and its adverse psychological outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) have shown promising results in improving mental health in the general population. However, traditional MBIs require substantial time and effort due to the high dose of mindfulness practice, which makes them inaccessible to many individuals. This study aimed to (1) test the effectiveness of a novel low-dose MBI-Mindfulness-Based Integrative Programme (MBIP)-delivered synchronously online, on mental health symptom severity, emotion regulation, and trait mindfulness in the general population; (2) test the acceptability of this intervention; and (3) identify baseline characteristics that may predict changes in emotion regulation. A non-randomised controlled trial design was used to compare pre- to post-intervention change scores in trait mindfulness (FFMQ), mental health symptom severity (SCL-90-R GSI), and emotion dysregulation (DERS) between a self-selected and self-paid experimental group (n = 116) and a passive control group (n = 115). The experimental group showed significant increases in trait mindfulness and reductions in mental health symptom severity and emotion dysregulation, with effect sizes ranging from small to large, which is comparable to traditional in-person MBIs. Baseline trait mindfulness and mental health symptom severity significantly predicted intervention outcomes, with greater improvements in emotion regulation among participants with lower baseline scores. Participants demonstrated high levels of engagement and reported high satisfaction with the intervention. These findings support the acceptability and effectiveness of a novel low-dose, synchronous online MBI for the general population., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Ivana Buric reports a relationship with Mindfulness Center Split that includes: employment. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Although research has demonstrated that parental psychological control is associated with the subjective well-being of adolescents, the lack of longitudinal studies that investigate whether or not bidirectional associations exist between the two and their potential mediating mechanisms has continued to date. In addition, previous studies have not rigorously distinguished between- and within-person effects. Thus, this study investigated longitudinal bidirectional associations between parental psychological control and the subjective well-being of adolescents. The study further examined the mediating role of emotion regulation ability., Methods: A total of 1365 Chinese adolescents (boys: 53.2 %; M age  = 14.68 years, SD = 1.56) participated in a three-wave longitudinal study with annual assessments. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models were utilized to separate between- and within-person variation., Results: After controlling for between-person variance, the results revealed that adolescents with low levels of subjective well-being reported high levels of parental psychological control after one year. Emotion regulation ability played a bidirectional mediating role in the relationship between psychological control and subjective well-being. That is, psychological control and subjective well-being mutually influenced each other through emotion regulation ability., Limitations: Assessments of the key study variables were provided by adolescents. Moreover, the study considered a combination of the mothers' and fathers' use of psychological control without differentiating between paternal and maternal psychological control., Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of interventions that target emotion regulation ability, which contributes to breaking the negative cycle between controlling parenting and the well-being of adolescents., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Comorbidity in mental disorders is prevalent among adolescents, with evidence suggesting a general psychopathology factor ("p" factor) that reflects shared mechanisms across different disorders. However, the association between the "p" factor and protective factors remains understudied. The current study aimed to explore the "p" factor, and its associations with psycho-social functioning, in Chinese adolescents., Methods: 2052 students, aged 9-17, were recruited from primary and secondary schools in Shanghai, China. Multiple rating scales were used to assess psychological symptoms and psycho-social functioning. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to verify the fit of models involving different psychopathology domains such as externalizing, internalizing, and the "p" factor. Subsequently, structural equation models were used to explore associations between the extracted factors and psycho-social functioning, including emotion regulation, mindful attention awareness, self-esteem, self-efficacy, resilience, and perceived support., Results: The bi-factor model demonstrated a good fit, with a "p" factor accounting for 46 % of symptom variation, indicating that the psychological symptoms of Chinese adolescents could be explained by internalizing, externalizing, and the "p" factor. Psychologically, a higher "p" was positively correlated with emotion suppression and negatively correlated with mindful attention awareness, emotion reappraisal, self-esteem, and resilience. Socially, a higher "p" was associated with decreased perceived support., Limitations: Only common symptoms were included as this study was conducted at school. Furthermore, the cross-sectional design limited our ability to investigate causal relationships., Conclusions: A "p" factor exists among Chinese adolescents. Individuals with higher "p" factor levels were prone to experience lower levels of psycho-social functions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Greater difficulties in emotion regulation (ER) and decreased use of adaptive ER strategies have been associated with higher levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. To date, limited research has explored whether ER improves with PTSD treatment or whether such improvements are linked with improvements in PTSD symptoms., Methods: Veterans and service members with PTSD (N = 223) participated in a 2-week intensive treatment program (ITP) based in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). ER was measured using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Short Form (DERS-SF) at baseline and on days 4 and 9 of treatment. PTSD symptoms were reported on the PTSD Symptom Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) at baseline, on days 3, 5, 6, and 8 of treatment, and at post-treatment., Results: DERS-SF scores decreased during treatment (M change  = 5.12, d = 0.38). Baseline DERS-SF did not predict overall PCL-5 scores across timepoints (p = .377). However, scores on the DERS-SF over time were significantly associated with PCL-5 improvement over the course of treatment (p < .001, R 2 b  = 0.07). Finally, improvements in all subscales of the DERS-SF across time except clarity were significantly associated with improvement in PCL-5 over time., Limitations: Additional treatment components in the ITP beyond CPT may have contributed to ER improvements. Conclusions are also limited by the use of self-report data., Conclusions: An intensive CPT-based treatment program for veterans and service members can lead to improved ER in two weeks. ER improvements are associated with PTSD symptom severity during the ITP., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Philip Held secured grant funding to support this work. All other authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

• This paper explores the risk factors of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the role of coping style and emotional regulation. • Among 6027 students, 35.34% reported psychological distress, which more often affected men, left-behind child or family's monthly income lower than 5000 CNY or higher than 20,000 CNY. • Negative coping style and expressing panic about COVID-19 on social media were the most important predictors of psychological distress. When COVID-19 emerged in China in late 2019, most citizens were home-quarantined to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Extended periods of isolation have detrimental effects on an individual's mental health. Therefore, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic should include assessment of psychological distress and its known risk factors, including coping style and emotional regulation. This cross-sectional study surveyed 6,027 Chinese university students recruited from May 25, 2020 to June 10, 2020. In addition to sociodemographic information, participant data were collected using online versions of the 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). The incidence of psychological distress was found to be 35.34%. Negative coping style and expressing panic about COVID-19 on social media were the most important predictors of psychological distress. In addition, being male, being a "left-behind child" or having a monthly household income lower than 5000 CNY or higher than 20,000 CNY were associated with higher psychological distress. The psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic could be serious. Psychological interventions that reduce nervousness and negative coping style need to be made available to home-quarantined university students, especially those who are male, are "left-behind", have a monthly household income lower than 5000 CNY or higher than 20,000 CNY, or express panic on social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mood disorders are associated with fronto-limbic structural and functional abnormalities and deficits in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Emerging evidence also suggests that n-3 PUFA, which are enriched in fish oil, promote cortical plasticity and connectivity. The present study performed a graph-based connectome analysis to investigate the role of n-3 PUFA in emotion-related network organization in medication-free depressed adolescent bipolar offspring.Methods: At baseline patients (n = 53) were compared with healthy controls (n = 53), and patients were then randomized to 12-week double-blind treatment with placebo or fish oil. At baseline and endpoint, erythrocyte EPA+DHA levels were measured and fMRI scans (4 Tesla) were obtained while performing a continuous performance task with emotional and neutral distractors (CPT-END). Graph-based analysis was used to characterize topological properties of large-scale brain network organization.Results: Compared with healthy controls, patients exhibited lower erythrocyte EPA+DHA levels (p = 0.0001), lower network clustering coefficients (p = 0.029), global efficiency (p = 0.042), and lower node centrality and connectivity strengths in frontal-limbic regions (p<0.05). Compared with placebo, 12-week fish oil supplementation increased erythrocyte EPA+DHA levels (p<0.001), network clustering coefficient (p = 0.005), global (p = 0.047) and local (p = 0.023) efficiency, and node centralities mainly in temporal regions (p<0.05).Limitations: The duration of fish oil supplementation was relatively short and the sample size was relatively small.Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary evidence that abnormalities in emotion-related network organization observed in depressed high-risk youth may be amenable to modification through fish oil supplementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Loneliness and depressive symptoms were stable over the first four months of the UK lockdown. • The longitudinal association between loneliness and depressive symptoms was reciprocal and positive. • The temporal interaction was not mediated by emotion regulation difficulties. • Emotion regulation difficulties and depressive symptoms were reciprocally related over time. Longitudinal studies examining the temporal association between mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak are needed. It is important to determine how relationships between key outcomes, specifically loneliness and depressive symptoms, manifest over a brief timeframe and in a pandemic context. Data was gathered over 4 months (March – June 2020) using an online survey with three repeated measures at monthly intervals (N = 1958; 69.8% females; Age 18-87 years, M = 37.01, SD = 12.81). Associations between loneliness, depression symptoms, and emotion regulation difficulty were tested using Pearson's product moment correlations, and descriptive statistics were calculated for all study variables. Cross-lagged structural equation modelling was used to examine the temporal relationships between variables. The longitudinal association between loneliness and depressive symptoms was reciprocal. Loneliness predicted higher depressive symptoms one month later, and depressive symptoms predicted higher loneliness one month later. The relationship was not mediated by emotion regulation difficulties. Emotion regulation difficulties and depressive symptoms were also reciprocally related over time. Limitations include the reliance on self-report data and the non-representative sample. There was no pre-pandemic assessment limiting the conclusions that can be drawn regarding the mental health impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Loneliness should be considered an important feature of case conceptualisation for depression during this time. Clinical efforts to improve mental health during the pandemic could focus on interventions that target either loneliness, depression, or both. Potential approaches include increasing physical activity or low-intensity cognitive therapies delivered remotely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression and anxiety co-occur frequently and there is heterogeneity in the co-occurrence of such symptoms; however, few previous studies investigated the heterogeneity based on person-centered perspectives in adolescents. The primary aim of our study was to explore it using latent profile analysis (LPA), a person-centered statistical approach., Method: The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) were used to examine depression and anxiety symptoms in 7422 Chinese adolescents from 23 primary and secondary schools. To investigate latent profiles and assess profile validity, we employed Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), multinomial logistic regression, and analysis of variance., Results: A three-profile model was suggested as the optimum: low (69.9 %), moderate (21.6 %), and high depression/anxiety (8.5 %). Female with higher negative cognitive bias and higher emotional regulation difficulty are more likely to be categorized in the high depression/anxiety group. Internet addiction, academic "Lying flat" and involution are significantly and positively linked with the severity of anxiety and depression., Limitations: Reliance on self-reported measures may lead to response bias; the cross-sectional design limits our ability to study how symptom profiles and category membership change over time., Conclusions: Three latent profiles of the co-occurrence of depression and anxiety presented a parallel pattern, which serves as a poignant reminder of the imperative need to identify Chinese adolescents who may be at elevated risk for depression and/or anxiety, and promoting intervention that are meticulously tailored to address the unique symptom presentations of each individual., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Author DYL, Author ZY, Author HKS, Author CJY, Author LQ, Author LS and Author XJ and declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire was recently developed to measure beliefs about the controllability and usefulness of negative and positive emotions. These are beliefs that have been theorised to be influential for emotion regulation and psychological outcomes. However, to date there are few studies utilising large, representative samples to examine the EBQ's psychometric properties and affective correlates. Our aim was to fill this gap by examining the EBQ's psychometric properties and exploring associations between emotion beliefs, emotion regulation, and affective disorder symptoms., Methods: A sample of 1175 adults recruited from the general population in the United States completed measures of emotion beliefs, emotion regulation, and affective disorder symptoms., Results: Confirmatory factor analyses supported the EBQ's intended subscale structure, where controllability and usefulness beliefs were separated by valence. This structure was invariant across gender, age, and education categories. The EBQ correlated in expected ways with other measures, demonstrating good validity, and had good to excellent levels of internal consistency reliability., Limitations: This study used a non-clinical sample that was predominantly White. Future work should utilise clinical and cross-cultural samples to maximise generalisability of findings., Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the EBQ is a psychometrically sound tool for measuring the multidimensional emotion belief construct. The EBQ may have clinical utility in the conceptualisation, assessment, and treatment of maladaptive emotion beliefs. Furthermore, our results highlight the importance of considering the potential influence of maladaptive emotion beliefs in emotion dysregulation and affective disorder symptoms., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Depressed patients who have become victim of violence are prone to revictimization. However, no evidence-based interventions aimed at reducing revictimization in this group exist., Methods: This multicenter randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of an internet-based emotion regulation training (iERT) added to TAU in reducing revictimization, emotion dysregulation, and depressive symptoms in recently victimized, depressed patients compared to TAU alone. Adult outpatients (N = 153) with a depressive disorder who had experienced threat, physical assault, or sexual assault within the previous three years were randomly allocated to TAU+iERT (n = 74) or TAU (n = 79). TAU involved psychotherapy (mainly cognitive behavioral therapy [77.8 %]). iERT comprised six guided online sessions focused on the acquisition of adaptive emotion regulation skills. The primary outcome measure was the number of revictimization incidents at 12 months after baseline, measured with the Safety Monitor. Analyses were performed according to the intention-to-treat principle., Results: Both groups showed a large decrease in victimization incidents. Mixed-model negative binomial regression analyses showed that TAU+iERT was not effective in reducing revictimization compared to TAU (IRR = 0.97; 95%CI = 0.64,1.46; p = .886). Linear mixed-model analyses demonstrated that TAU+iERT yielded a larger reduction of emotion dysregulation (B = -7.217; p = .046; Cohens d = 0.33), but not depressive symptoms (B = -1.041; p = .607) than TAU., Limitations: The study was underpowered to detect small treatment effects. Additionally, uptake of iERT was quite low., Conclusions: Although TAU+iERT resulted in a larger decrease of emotion dysregulation than TAU alone, it was not effective in reducing revictimization and depressive symptoms. Patients' revictimization risk substantially decreased during psychotherapy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Emotion regulation deficits, particularly in cognitive reappraisal, are crucial in depression and anxiety. However, research on the neural mechanisms of implicit emotion regulation is lacking, and it remains unclear whether these mechanisms are shared or distinct between the two disorders., Methods: We investigated the neural mechanisms of implicit cognitive reappraisal in 28 individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD), 25 with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and 30 healthy controls (HC) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Participants completed an implicit cognitive reappraisal task and underwent neuropsychological and clinical assessments., Results: We found that MDD patients reported higher levels of rumination and lower utilization of cognitive reappraisal, while GAD patients reported reduced use of perspective-taking. Notably, both MDD and GAD patients exhibited decreased activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) compared to HC participants during implicit cognitive reappraisal. Specifically, inadequate OFC activation was observed in MDD patients, while GAD patients demonstrated OFC deactivation during the task. Furthermore, DLPFC activation showed a negative correlation with depression severity in MDD patients, while OFC activation was positively correlated with perspective-taking in GAD patients., Limitations: fNIRS has limited depth and spatial resolution., Conclusion: Our fNIRS study is the first to reveal shared and distinct neurobiological profiles of depression and anxiety in implicit emotion regulation. These findings underscore the significance of reduced DLPFC/OFC activation in emotion regulation impairment and highlight unique OFC activation patterns in these disorders. These insights have potential implications for developing cognitive-behavioral therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation as treatment approaches., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Deficits in emotional processing and, in particular, in emotional self-regulation represent non-specific risk factors for transdiagnostic poor outcomes. Researches have been focusing on the investigation of possible emotional processing and regulation biomarkers. The present brief review of the literature aims to evaluate whether NIRS signal might be one of them.Methods: We reviewed 8 original articles investigating children's hemodynamic response to emotional tasks using NIRS, or exploring the association between NIRS response to cognitive tasks and behavioral emotional regulation.Results: All the works revised found significant associations between NIRS data and emotional indexes. Furthermore, significant hemodynamic response is found in different age-groups (3-12 years of age), suggesting that cortical response to emotional processing as measured by NIRS is a marker consistently recognizable throughout the development.Limitations: Given that the studies in this field were still limited and used heterogeneous protocols, addressed different functions or aspects of emotional processing, these results are preliminary.Conclusions: NIRS seems a reliable tool to describe brain activation during emotional processing and regulation. Moreover, it seems to be particularly useful in studies including either developmental-aged participants or clinical samples, due to its clear advantages and non-intrusiveness, offering a potential marker for deficits in emotional processing and regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Somatization has been linked to the underdiagnosis of mental health disorders among individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups, notably among Latinxs. While prior research has emphasized sociocultural factors, the exploration of potential inter- and intrapersonal mechanisms behind somatization remains limited., Methods: The current study examined the relation between attachment insecurity, emotion dysregulation, and somatization among Latinx young adults. Data were collected across seven separate Texas universities (N = 822). Most identified as female (76 %), were born in the United States (50.9 %) and were in their first or second year of university (60.6 %)., Results: Hypothesis testing relied on two mediation models: maternal attachment security and paternal attachment security. The maternal attachment security model significantly predicted somatization, explaining 25 % of the variance. Notably, emotion dysregulation and maternal attachment security had main effects on somatization after accounting for country of origin, age, and gender. Results were similar for the paternal attachment security model., Limitations: Limitations include skewed gender distribution, a non-clinical college student sample, cross-sectional design preventing causal inferences, and potential bias in self-report measures., Conclusions: Attachment security and emotion dysregulation play an essential role in the experience of somatic symptoms among Latinx young adults. Our results suggest that health care providers take into account insecure attachment and emotion regulation history of Latinxs presenting with somatic symptoms., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Emotional processing and regulation of affect are often impaired in psychiatric patients. Nightmares could be considered a manifestation of problems with this process. In the present study, we examined how depression, anxiety and suicidal risk related to difficulties in emotion regulation and nightmares over the course of inpatient treatment. We also explored whether emotion regulation problems moderated the relationship between changes in depression, anxiety, and suicide risk to changes in nightmares from admission to discharge., Methods: The present study included 1215 adults admitted to an inpatient psychiatric hospital ranging from 18 to 87 years of age (M = 37.18, SD = 16.14). Mood symptoms, emotion regulation difficulties, nightmares and suicide risk were assessed at admission and discharge. Moderation analyses were calculated using Model 1 of the PROCESS Macro (Hayes, 2013)., Results: Moderation analyses showed the associations between depression and nightmares (b = 0.25, p < .001) and suicide and nightmares (b = 0.34, p < .001) were strongest when patients had high levels of emotion regulation difficulties. Emotion regulation difficulties did not, however, moderate the relationship between anxiety and nightmares. Furthermore, improvement in depression and nightmares was significantly related to improvement in emotion regulation difficulties., Limitations: The homogeneity of the sample limits the generalizability of the results. Furthermore, the use of self-report measures, especially sleep related assessments, can bias the data more than objective measures., Conclusions: These findings provide clinical implications when treating psychiatric patients such as a need for emotion regulation skills building., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers' bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript:, (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Positive associations between difficulties in emotion regulation and PTSD symptom severity have been consistently found in the literature. Little is known whether these associations are the result of reciprocal effects between the two constructs. This study investigated the reciprocal relationship between post-traumatic stress symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties. The study used a longitudinal design with two time points. The sample consisted of 293 patients who were all in treatment for PTSD. We estimated the cross-lagged panel model with latent variables. The results showed a significant cross-lagged effect of emotion regulation difficulties on post-traumatic stress symptoms. This finding highlights that emotion regulation difficulties play a pivotal role in the development and maintenance of post-traumatic stress. Therefore, exploring emotion regulation difficulties early on in treatment may support the effectiveness of trauma-focused interventions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Although childhood maltreatment has been suggested to play an important role in developing Internet addiction among adolescents, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this association. The present study investigated (a) the mediating role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategy (MCERS) in the association between childhood maltreatment and Internet addiction, and (b) the moderating role of peer support in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and Internet addiction. A sample of 4163 Chinese adolescents (50.3 % females, M age  = 14.25, SD = 1.53) were recruited. The moderated mediation model showed that MCERS mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and Internet addiction. Furthermore, the mediating process was moderated by peer support. Interestingly, peer support can protect adolescents from being affected by higher levels of MCERS while it displays limited protective effect when adolescents suffered from higher levels of childhood maltreatment. These findings indicate that reducing the MCERS and enhancing peer support can contribute to the alleviation of negative influences of childhood maltreatment on Internet addiction., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Despite the importance of positive emotions for affective psychopathology, prior research primarily focused on negative emotion regulation. To address this gap, this ecological momentary assessment study compared a broad set of emotion regulation strategies in the context of positive versus negative emotions regarding their effectiveness and associations with depressive symptoms., Methods: We analyzed data from 1066 participants who were notified five times daily for seven consecutive days to complete a smartphone survey assessing their predominant emotions, strategies to regulate them, and subsequent emotional outcomes., Results: Findings show that the effectiveness of most regulation strategies depended on whether the emotional context was positive or negative. While acceptance and savoring predicted improved emotional outcomes across emotional contexts, reappraisal and problem-solving were associated with deteriorated emotional outcomes and increased depressive symptoms when regulating positive but not negative emotions., Limitations: Future studies should replicate our findings in demographically and culturally diverse clinical samples to improve generalizability., Conclusion: These results emphasize that strategies effective for regulating negative emotions may be less helpful in the context of positive emotions. Thus, context-specific interventions may be a promising approach to improve the treatment of affective disorders., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflict of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Worry is a transdiagnostic risk factor for stress-related mental health complaints such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Although worry may function as a form of avoidance of unwanted emotions and accordingly interfere with adaptive emotion regulation, the specific domains of emotion regulation that are perturbed by excessive worry to confer risk for stress-related symptoms are unclear. Further, it is unknown if cognitive control mechanisms that underlie successful emotion regulation influence the effect of worry on stress. The present study addressed these gaps in the literature by examining specific emotion regulation difficulties as mediators of the relationship between worry and subsequent stress, as well as executive function as a moderator of the mediated effects., Method: 656 community adults were assessed for trait worry, emotion dysregulation, stress, and executive dysfunction once per month for three months (time 1 - time 3)., Results: The effect of worry (time 1) on subsequent stress (time 3) was partially mediated by difficulties with emotional clarity and difficulty engaging in goal-directed behavior when upset (time 2) after controlling for age, gender, and baseline stress. Moderated mediation models revealed that the indirect effect of worry on stress via difficulty with goal-directed behavior was significantly moderated by executive dysfunction, such that fewer executive function difficulties acted as a buffer against the harmful effects of worry., Limitations: Limitations include reliance on self-report measures, lack of experimental manipulation, and a nonclinical sample., Conclusions: Findings point to specific domains of emotion regulation as treatment targets for individuals with high worry proneness., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflict of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Emotion regulation is postulated to play an important role in Trichotillomania (TTM). Whilst a growing number of studies have examined the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and TTM symptoms, there have been no attempts to evaluate the overall strength of this association or the quality of the evidence base., Method: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesise findings from studies that have examined the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and TTM symptoms, to inform future TTM treatment targets. We identified 17 studies that met inclusion criteria. From these studies, 32 correlation coefficients were extracted for meta-analysis. The Joanna Briggs Institute Checklist for Analytical Cross Sectional Studies was used to assess risk of bias amongst the included studies., Results: There was a moderately sized association between TTM symptoms and ER difficulties, (r adjusted = 0.32, 95 % CI [0.28, 0.37], t = 15.58 (df = 11.86), p < 0.0001) that was moderated by sample size (F(df1 = 1, df2 = 30) = 4.597, b = -0.0001, SE = 0.0001, 95 % CI [-0.0002; 0.0000], p = 0.040) and differences between types of emotion regulation measures (Q(df = 1) = 4.06, p = 0.044)., Limitations: The data analysed was correlational, therefore causality was unable to be determined. Comorbidities were not able to be examined as a moderator., Conclusion: This study provided a preliminary integration of the evidence and demonstrated that individuals with higher levels of TTM severity appear to exhibit decreased overall emotion regulation abilities and strategies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Despite emerging evidence for the effect of childhood psychological maltreatment on adolescent depressive symptoms, the underlying processes for this effect are largely under-investigated. This study examined a conceptual framework for the effect of childhood psychological maltreatment on adolescent depressive symptoms through social anxiety disorder (SAD) and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies., Methods: The participants were 1649 Chinese middle school students (751 girls and 898 boys) with a mean age of 16.29 ± 1.04 years old. A moderation-mediation model hypothesized that childhood psychological maltreatment predicts adolescent depressive symptoms, with SAD as a mediator and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies as a moderator., Results: Childhood psychological maltreatment significantly positively predicted adolescent depressive symptoms, while SAD mediated the relation. Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies moderated the pathways from psychological maltreatment to depressive symptoms (but not from psychological maltreatment to SAD) and from SAD to adolescent depressive symptoms., Limitations: Subjective measures, and the cross-sectional design are the main limitations., Conclusions: SAD plays a mediating role in the relation between childhood psychological maltreatment and depressive symptoms. Maladaptive emotion regulation strategies exacerbate the relation between childhood psychological maltreatment and depressive symptoms, as well as the relation between SAD and depressive symptoms. These results highlight the importance of addressing social anxiety in reducing adolescent depressive symptoms by improving their cognitive emotion regulation strategies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate whether use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression interact with childhood trauma burden to predict alcohol problems in a sample of American Indian adults., Methods: Four hundred and twenty-nine American Indian adults (Mean age = 37.62, 59.5 % male) completed an online survey to measure childhood trauma exposure, perceived impact of childhood trauma, trait use of expressive suppression, and alcohol problems in adulthood., Results: Trait use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression interacted with childhood trauma burden to predict alcohol problems in adulthood. American Indian adults who reported high levels of childhood trauma burden who also reported frequent use of both cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression had significantly more alcohol problems compared to individuals who reported similarly high levels of childhood trauma burden who reported low use of these emotion regulation strategies., Conclusions: These findings provide initial evidence that emotion regulation interventions which focus on different emotion regulation strategies could be an effective way to offset the risk for alcohol problems associated with childhood trauma., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are conditions frequently associated with dysfunction in emotional regulation leading to increased risk of affective disorders. This study investigates emotional processing with an objective measure of emotional reactivity in patients with TLE and patients with PNES.Methods: 34 patients with TLE and 14 patients with PNES were evaluated on skin conductance responses (SCR) to emotions induced by short films and compared to 34 healthy controls. An attention and a suppression condition were performed while viewing the films.Results: The both groups of patients disclosed lower SCR to emotions compared to controls, mainly in suppression condition. While TLE patients had lower SCR in attention condition than controls for fear, sadness and happiness, PNES had lower SCR only for happiness. In suppression condition, both had lower SCR than controls except for peacefulness in both groups and sadness in PNES. Subjective evaluations revealed that both patient's groups scored a higher intensity for sadness than controls in attention and lower for in fear and disgust in suppression only in TLE.Limitations: The sample size in the PNES group and the lack of a control group with similar levels of mood symptoms limited the interpretation of our results.Conclusion: As no correlation were found between SCR to emotions and scores of affective disorders, this pattern of responses might be underpinned by specific pathophysiological and cognitive mechanisms related to TLE and to PNES. Thus, therapeutic approaches targeting emotional autonomic responses can be of interest in the management of these conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies have suggested that expressive suppression (ES) is linked to externally oriented thinking (EOT) through the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and there are gender differences in their association. The present structural magnetic resonance imaging study was to investigate the neural bases of ES and EOT and their association in females versus males in a Chinese college sample.Methods: A total of 142 participants (83 females) were enrolled, and they completed the ES subscale of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and anatomical scanning. Voxel-based morphometry, region of interest, and whole brain analyses with peak-level significance (family-wise error corrected at p < .05) were conducted to investigate the association of gray matter volume (GMV) variations with ES and EOT. A bootstrapping analysis was conducted to examine the role of vmPFC volume in the ES-EOT association.Results: The ES scores were positively linked to the GMV of the vmPFC in females and negatively related to right dorsolateral PFC volume in males. The EOT scores were positively correlated with the GMV of the vmPFC in females and supplementary motor area in males. Furthermore, vmPFC volume mediated the relationship between ES and EOT LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design limited causal conclusions.Conclusions: The vmPFC may be the only neural base of ES and EOT and their association. In addition, these results were sex-specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adolescent major depression (MD) is characterized by deficits in emotion regulation (ER). Little is known about the neurophysiological correlates that are associated with these deficits. Moreover, the additional examination of visual attention during ER would allow a more in-depth understanding of ER deficits but has not yet been applied simultaneously., Methods: N = 33 adolescents with MD and n = 35 healthy controls (HCs) aged 12-18 years performed an ER task during which they either a) down-regulated their negative affective response to negative images via cognitive reappraisal or b) attended the images without changing their affective response. During the task, the Late Positive Potential (LPP), gaze fixations on emotional image aspects, and self-reported affective responses were collected simultaneously., Results: Compared to HCs, adolescents with MD demonstrated reduced ER success based on self-report but did not differ in LPP amplitudes. Participants in both groups showed increased amplitudes in the middle LPP window when they reappraised negative pictures compared to when they attended them. Only in the HC group, increased LPP amplitudes during reappraisal were paralleled by more positive affective responses., Limitation: The applied stimuli were part of picture databases and might therefore have limited self-relevance., Conclusions: Increased LPP amplitude during ER in both groups might be specific to adolescence and might suggest that ER at this age is challenging and requires a high amount of cognitive resources. These findings provide an important starting point for future interventional studies in youth MD., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Transdiagnostic approaches to psychopathology have postulated that factors related to perceived control are particularly relevant to mental health. Here we focused on a specific perceived control-related construct: metacognitive beliefs about uncontrollability. Evidence suggests that dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs play a role in the activation and maintenance of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and emotional distress. Metacognitive beliefs about the uncontrollability and danger of worry are the most strongly associated with psychopathology. In this multi-study research, we hypothesized that metacognitive beliefs about uncontrollability make a specific contribution to emotion regulation strategies and clinical symptoms. We tested our hypotheses in four different studies, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally (N = 2224). Participants completed measures of metacognitive beliefs, maladaptive strategies (e.g., worry, thought suppression), and clinical symptoms (e.g., generalized anxiety, emotional distress, depressive and anxiety symptoms). Our results showed that uncontrollability beliefs were the strongest variable associated with maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and clinical symptoms (cross-sectionally), and the only ones that predicted them in the long term. We discuss the theoretical and clinical implications of these results in the light of the metacognitive model and control-related theories., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that there were no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship or the publication of this article., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)