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Emotional regulation-based transdiagnostic interventions provide positive but limited evidence regarding efficacy with people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In the present study, 10 participants living with HIV with emotional disorders completed a five-session transdiagnostic group intervention to improve their emotional regulation skills (Unified Protocol). Changes at pre-treatment, post-treatment and three-month follow-up were explored at the population (mean-rank) and the individual level (reliable change index). Compared to pre-treatment, participants improved significantly in anxiety, depression, negative affect and quality of life. Changes were maintained at the three-month follow-up. Emotion regulation, particularly the confusion factor, improved when comparing pre-treatment with the three-month follow-up. At the three-month follow-up, the percentage of normalized scores was the largest in maladjustment (70%), followed by depression, negative affect, and lack of control (50%). All participants indicated high treatment satisfaction and perceived benefits. These promising results suggest that brief emotion regulation interventions might be feasible and effective in the public health settings for people living with HIV suffering emotional disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has been widely studied in laboratory settings due to its clinical implications, primarily as a potential biomarker of emotion regulation (ER). Studies have reported that individuals with higher resting HRV show more distinct startle reflexes to negative stimuli as compared to those with lower HRV. These responses have been associated with better defense system function when managing the context demands. There is, however, a lack of empirical evidence on the association between resting HRV and eyeblinks during laboratory tasks using instructed ER. This study explored the influence of tonic HRV on voluntary cognitive reappraisal through subjective and startle responses measured during an independent ER task. In total, 122 healthy participants completed a task consisting of attempts to upregulate, downregulate, or react naturally to emotions prompted by unpleasant pictures. Tonic HRV was measured for 5 minutes before the experiment began. Current results did not support the idea that self-reported and eyeblink responses were influenced by resting HRV. These findings suggest that, irrespective of resting HRV, individuals may benefit from strategies such as reappraisal that are useful for managing negative emotions. Experimental studies should further explore the role of individual differences when using ER strategies during laboratory tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive and negative affect, emotion regulation and self-efficacy are important mechanisms in borderline personality disorder (BPD), but their contribution is still not clear. Our goal was to explore their role in relation to typical BPD outcomes: psychiatric hospitalizations, suicidal behaviors and depression. The sample comprised 88 women with BPD. The unique contribution of positive and negative affect, the regulation of emotions and self-efficacy in outcomes were analyzed. Positive (β= -.40, p< .001) and negative (β= .54, p< .001) affect contributed uniquely to depression. Emotion suppression was the only predictor of the number of hospitalizations (β= -.29, p<.05). Self-efficacy was uniquely related to suicide attempts (β= -.26, p< .05) when controlling the rest of the variables. Positive and negative affect, emotion regulation and selfefficacy are important psychological mechanisms uniquely associated with specific emotional and behavioral outcomes in BPD. These findings will help to design interventions in a more effective way and tailor treatments for individuals with this disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]