Emotion-regulation skills as a treatment target in psychotherapy

Background

Deficits in emotion-regulation skills have been shown to be integral to the development and maintenance of a wide range of mental disorders.

Aim

To evaluate the importance of these skills as a treatment target in psychotherapeutic interventions.

Method

Nine specific emotion-regulation skills were assessed in a sample of 289 inpatients before and after cognitive-behavioural treatment. Self-reports of success in pretreatment skills application were first compared to those of 246 non-clinical controls. Pretreatment skills application and change in skills application during therapy were then related to a variety of outcome measures. Finally, the effects of integrating a brief training of general emotion-regulation skills into the CBT-based treatment were evaluated in a controlled trial.

Results

Uni- and multivariate analyses identified the skills of acceptance, tolerance, and active modification of negative emotions as particularly important for current mental health and treatment outcome. Replacing parts of the standard CBT treatment with the emotion-regulation training enhanced the effects of the CBT treatment on skills application and on other measures of mental health.

Conclusion

Incorporating interventions that directly target general emotion-regulation skills may improve the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic interventions.     

Processing two tasks with varying task order: central stage duration influences central processing order

In a recent study, Sigman and Dehaene (2006, PLoS Biology, 4, 1227–1238) reported that perceptual processing duration influences processing order of two tasks in the psychological refractory period paradigm (PRP). The present study examines whether the duration of central processes also influences processing order. For this purpose, we employed letter tasks with different central processing durations and varied task order in the PRP. In one part of the experiment, a tone discrimination task was combined with a similar time-consuming letter discrimination task. In the other part, the tone task was combined with a more time-consuming letter task, which required a mental rotation of the letter thereby prolonging central processing. If the duration of central processes influences processing order, participants should perform the tone task first more often when it is presented with the more time-consuming mental rotation task, than when it is presented with the similar time-consuming letter task. The results clearly confirm this prediction and thus show that not only perceptual processing duration but also central processing duration affects processing order in a dual-task situation. We suggest that the reported effect mirrors a tendency of participants to minimize total reaction time to both tasks by reducing slack time.     

Time pressure with state vigour and state absorption: are they non-linearly related?

On the basis of activation theory and the challenge-hindrance demands model, this study was conducted to clarify the functional form (linear vs. curvilinear) of the within-persons relations of time pressure with vigour and absorption. Further, we investigated whether these relations would be moderated by time-varying job control. A total of 52 full-time employees (44% female) participated in the study, which included two assessments per day over the course of 2 work weeks. Our analyses confirmed an inverted U-shaped within-persons association between state time pressure and state vigour and a moderator effect of job control on the curvilinear relation. By contrast, state time pressure and state absorption displayed only a positive linear relation. This study demonstrates that within-persons high levels of time pressure may impair employees’ energy levels but still promote their absorption at work.     

Die Therapeutische Allianz

Zusammenfassung Ausgehend von frühen Konzeptionen der therapeutischen Allianz wird die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Konstrukts verfolgt. Es wird die Behauptung aufgestellt, dass seine Attraktivität in der Psychotherapieforschung vor allem von der Beziehung zum Therapieerfolg herrührt. Es gibt aber durchaus auch kritische Stimmen, denen die vorherrschende Auffassung zu positivistisch ist. Von einem Forschungsgesichtspunkt aus werden verschiedene Vorgehensweisen betrachtet, mit einer Zusammenfassung von Ergebnissen zur Perspektive der therapeutischen Allianz als Patienten- beziehungsweise therapeutenzentrierte Persönlichkeitsvariable, als Interaktions- oder Kommunikationsvariable. Da die therapeutische Allianz ursprünglich ein psychoanalytisches Konzept ist, und ihre Beziehung zur Übertragung ein immer wiederkehrendes Thema darstellt, wird auch hier diesem Aspekt besondere Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet. Die Darstellung schließt auch den Versuch ein, den Stellenwert der therapeutischen Allianz in verschiedenen Therapierichtungen und verschiedenen therapeutischen Settings zu erfassen. Es werden häufiger verwendete Skalen beschrieben und Versuche, ihre Ähnlichkeit nachzuweisen, zusammengefasst. Auch die mit Hilfe dieser Skalen erreichten Aussagen über typische Verläufe von Allianz kommen zur Sprache.     

Validating an indirect measure of clarity of feelings: evidence from laboratory and naturalistic settings

This study analyzed the reliability and validity of an indirect measure of clarity of feelings that is based on response latencies (RTs) of mood ratings. Fifty-two participants completed a laboratory session and an experience-sampling week with 6 measurement occasions per day. Shorter RT of mood ratings measured in the laboratory (but not self-reported dispositional clarity) predicted higher overall mood regulation success during the experience-sampling week. As a new indirect ambulatory measure of clarity, RTs of mood ratings were measured on handheld devices during the experience-sampling week. The new ambulatory RT measure of clarity demonstrated good psychometric properties. Within-occasions reliability (internal consistency) was satisfactory, and between-occasions reliability (consistency of aggregated scores) was high. Ambulatory RT of mood ratings demonstrated moderate to high convergence with RT of mood ratings measured in the laboratory session. Both RT measures were unrelated to self-reported dispositional clarity of feelings. However, momentary RT converged with a self-report measure of momentary clarity on the within-persons level: Participants were faster to rate those mood items that they were more certain about. Evidence for the predictive validity of the new ambulatory RT measure was provided by the finding that on the within-persons level, shorter RT (but not self-reported momentary clarity) predicted higher mood regulation success and better mood at subsequent measurement occasions. The results suggest that RT of mood ratings can be used as a reliable and valid indicator of an individual's clarity of feelings in laboratory and experience-sampling studies.     

The influence of synesthesia on eye movements: no synesthetic pop-out in an oculomotor target selection task

Recent research on grapheme-colour synesthesia has focused on whether visual attention is necessary to induce a synesthetic percept. The current study investigated the influence of synesthesia on overt visual attention during an oculomotor target selection task. Chromatic and achromatic stimuli were presented with one target among distractors (e.g. a ‘2’ (target) among multiple ‘5’s (distractors)). Participants executed an eye movement to the target. Synesthetes and controls showed a comparable target selection performance across conditions and a ‘pop-out effect’ was only seen in the chromatic condition. As a pop-out effect was absent for the synesthetes in the achromatic condition, a synesthetic element appears not to elicit a synesthetic colour, even when it is the target. The synesthetic percepts are not pre-attentively available to distinguish the synesthetic target from synesthetic distractors when elements are presented in the periphery. Synesthesia appears to require full recognition to bind form and colour.     

Exogenous visual attention prolongs perceived duration

Previous studies have shown that spatial attention prolongs the perceived duration of visual stimuli. Chen and O'Neill (Perception & Psychophysics, 63, 1229-1238, 2001) reported, however, the reversed result and thus challenged the generality of this attention effect. We therefore reinvestigated the influence of spatial attention on the perceived duration of visual stimuli in various experimental settings. In five experiments, perceived duration was longer for validly cued stimuli; thus, spatial attention was found to prolong perceived duration. In a further experiment, the specific conditions were such that neither the attention effect nor the reversed pattern, as found by Chen and O'Neill, emerged. Although we cannot provide a conclusive account of why Chen and O'Neill observed the reversed attention effect, the present results reinforce the generality of the spatial attention effect on perceived duration but also make advisable a systematic examination of the factors that might modulate this effect.     

The assessment of emotional clarity via response times to emotion items: shedding light on the response process and its relation to emotion regulation strategies

Researchers have begun to use response times (RTs) to emotion items as an indirect measure of emotional clarity. Our first aim was to scrutinise the properties of this RT measure in more detail than previously. To be able to provide recommendations as to whether (and how) emotional intensity – as a possible confound – should be controlled for, we investigated the specific form of the relation between emotional intensity and RTs to emotion items. In particular, we assumed an inverted U-shaped relation at the item level. Moreover, we analysed the RT measure’s convergent validity with respect to individuals’ confidence in their emotion ratings. As a second aim, we compared the predictive validity of emotional clarity measures (RT measure, self-report) with respect to daily emotion regulation. The results of three experience sampling studies showed that the association between emotional intensity and RT followed an inverted U shape. RT was in part related to confidence. Emotional clarity measures were unrelated to reappraisal. There was some evidence that lower emotional clarity was related to a greater use of suppression. The findings highlight that emotional intensity and squared emotional intensity should be controlled for when using the RT measure of emotional clarity in future research.     

Working memory deficits in transgenic rats overexpressing human adenosine A2A receptors in the brain

Adenosine receptors in the central nervous system have been implicated in the modulation of different behavioural patterns and cognitive functions although the specific role of A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) subtype in learning and memory is still unclear. In the present work we establish a novel transgenic rat strain, TGR(NSEhA2A), overexpressing adenosine A(2A)Rs mainly in the cerebral cortex, the hippocampal formation, and the cerebellum. Thereafter, we explore the relevance of this A(2A)Rs overexpression for learning and memory function. Animals were behaviourally assessed in several learning and memory tasks (6-arms radial tunnel maze, T-maze, object recognition, and several Morris water maze paradigms) and other tests for spontaneous motor activity (open field, hexagonal tunnel maze) and anxiety (plus maze) as modification of these behaviours may interfere with the assessment of cognitive function. Neither motor performance and emotional/anxious-like behaviours were altered by overexpression of A(2A)Rs. TGR(NSEhA2A) showed normal hippocampal-dependent learning of spatial reference memory. However, they presented working memory deficits as detected by performance of constant errors in the blind arms of the 6 arm radial tunnel maze, reduced recognition of a novel object and a lack of learning improvement over four trials on the same day which was not observed over consecutive days in a repeated acquisition paradigm in the Morris water maze. Given the interdependence between adenosinic and dopaminergic function, the present results render the novel TGR(NSEhA2A) as a putative animal model for the working memory deficits and cognitive disruptions related to overstimulation of cortical A(2A)Rs or to dopaminergic prefrontal dysfunction as seen in schizophrenic or Parkinson's disease patients.