Examining the associations between difficulties in emotion regulation and symptomatic outcome measures among individuals with different mental disorders

Abstract

BackgroundDifficulties in emotion regulation (ER) abilities have been found to play a central role in different psychiatric disorders. However, researchers rarely compare ER across different diagnostic groups. In the current study, we examined ER and its relation to functional and symptomatic outcome among three distinct diagnostic groups: people with schizophrenia (SCZ), people with emotional disorders (EDs; i.e., depression and/or anxiety), and individuals without any psychiatric diagnosis (controls).MethodsParticipants in this study comprised 108 adults who requested psychotherapy at a community clinic in the year 2015 and between 2017 and 2019. Clients were interviewed and filled out questionnaires measuring depression, distress, and difficulties in ER abilities.ResultsResults showed that individuals with psychiatric diagnoses reported higher levels of difficulties in ER abilities than did controls. Moreover, there were very few differences in levels of ER difficulty between SCZ and EDs. Further, the associations between maladaptive ER and psychological outcomes were significant in each diagnostic group, and especially for SCZ.ConclusionOur study indicates that difficulties in ER abilities partially have a transdiagnostic nature, and that these difficulties are associated with psychological outcomes among both clinical populations and controls. There were very few differences in levels of ER ability difficulties between SCZ and EDs, suggesting that the two groups share difficulties in relating and responding to emotional distress. The associations between difficulties in ER abilities and outcome were more robust and stronger among SCZ than the other groups, highlighting the potential contribution of targeting ER abilities in the treatment of schizophrenia.

The Mediating Effect of Coping Strategies and Emotion Regulation in the Relationship between Impulsivity, Metacognition, and Eating Disorders

“…On the other hand, there was a high correlation between coping strategies, especially emotion regulation, and the severity of eating disorders. Emotion regulation has been widely studied as a transdiagnostic construct and also its relationship with several psychological disorders [ 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 ], including eating disorders [ 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 ]. Likewise, a strong relationship was also observed between executive functions, specifically impulsivity and metacognition, with eating disorders, coping strategies, and emotion regulation.…”

Transdiagnostic effects of therapist self‐disclosure on diverse emotional experiences of clients with emotional disorders and schizophrenia

“…The current research involves comparing samples from two different projects, each of which has had previous publications assessing processes and outcomes (e.g., Alfi-Yogev et al, 2023;Chen et al, 2020;Igra et al, 2023;Lavi-Rotenberg et al, 2020). Study procedures were part of the routine assessment and monitoring process at the clinic using time-stamped software on clinic computers.…”

The Role of Emotional Eating as Relief Mechanism from Psychological Distress and its Impact on Overall Wellbeing

“…This issue seems to be common for individuals with mental disorders, such as people with schizophrenia, depression and/or anxiety. These individuals have demonstrated a shared pattern of difficulties when relating and responding to emotional distress [12], characterized by an increased tendency to engage with maladaptive strategies, such as behavioral disengagement, denial, self-distraction, and self-blame [13], which have been associwww.jpublichealth.org ated with emotional eating. This process, known as emotional eating, serves as a tangible manifestation of the intricate interplay between emotions and dietary choices.…”