Research on deficits in emotion regulation has devoted considerable attention to emotion-regulation strategies. We propose that deficits in emotion regulation may also be related to emotion-regulation goals. We tested this possibility by assessing the direction in which depressed people chose to regulate their emotions (i.e., toward happiness, toward sadness). In three studies, clinically depressed participants were more likely than nondepressed participants to use emotion-regulation strategies in a direction that was likely to maintain or increase their level of sadness. This pattern was found when using the regulation strategies of situation selection (Studies 1 and 2) and cognitive reappraisal (Study 3). The findings demonstrate that maladaptive emotion regulation may be linked not only to the means people use to regulate their emotions, but also to the ends toward which those means are directed.

Although selecting emotion regulation strategies constitutes means to achieve emotion goals (i.e., desired emotional states), strategy selection and goals have been studied independently.We propose that the strategies people select are often dictated by what they want to feel. We tested the possibility that emotion regulation involves choosing strategies that match emotion goals. We expected people who are motivated to decrease emotional intensity to select strategies that are tailored for decreasing emotions (e.g., distraction), whereas those who are motivated to increase emotional intensity to select strategies that are tailored for increasing emotions (e.g., rumination). We expected this pattern to be evident both in the lab and in everyday life. We first verified that some strategies (i.e., distraction) are more effective in decreasing, and other strategies (i.e., rumination) more effective in increasing emotions (Study 1). Next, we tested whether emotion goals (decrease vs. increase emotion) direct the selection of strategies inside (Studies 2-3) and outside (Study 4) the laboratory. As predicted, participants were more likely to select strategies that decrease emotions (e.g., distraction, suppression) when motivated to decrease, and strategies that increase emotions (e.g., rumination) when motivated to increase negative (Studies 2-3, 4) and positive (Study 3) emotions. Finally, in Study 5, we demonstrated that emotional dysfunction is linked to less flexibility in matching strategies to goals. Compared to healthy participants, depressed participants selected rumination less for increasing emotions and selected distraction less for decreasing emotions. Our findings show that what people want to feel can determine how they regulate emotions.

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Difficulties with emotion regulation in depression may be linked not only to emotion regulation strategies but also to the motivation to experience certain emotions. We assessed the degree of motivation to experience happiness or sadness in major depressive disorders outside the laboratory and prospective links to clinical outcomes over time. Depressed individuals were consistently less motivated to experience happiness and more motivated to experience sadness than nondepressed individuals. The less motivated participants were to experience happiness, the less they tried to upregulate happiness in an emotion regulation task and downregulate negative emotions during real-life stress. Importantly, the less motivated depressed participants were to experience happiness, the more clinical symptoms they exhibited months later during a stressful period, even after controlling for initial levels of symptoms. These findings demonstrate that individual differences in the degree of motivation to experience happiness in depression may carry clinical implications.

Emotion-regulation deficits characterize many psychiatric disorders. To understand such deficits, researchers have focused on emotion-regulation strategies. Building on a motivational approach to emotion regulation, we suggest that to understand emotion regulation in psychopathology, it is necessary to also focus on emotion goals (i.e., what people want to feel). Emotion goals shape whether, when, and how people regulate emotions. Therefore, emotion-regulation deficits might emerge as a function of the emotion goals pursued. Initial research suggests that individuals struggling with psychopathology differ from individuals without psychopathology in how much they want to feel certain emotions and that such differences carry implications for emotion regulation and mental health. In this article, we review this empirical evidence, discuss how research on emotion goals can inform clinical theories and practice, and highlight promising future directions.