Emotion regulation in depression

Relation to cognitive inhibition

Bibliographic Data

ID23332005
AuthorsJutta Joormann (0000-0002-5531-8513, University of Miami, corresponding author), Ian H Gotlib (0000-0002-3622-3199, Stanford University)
Year2010
Volume24
Issue2
Pages281-298
Publication date2010-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCognition & Emotion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-9931 • E-ISSN: 1464-0600
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02699930903407948
PMID20300538
PMCIDPMC2839199
OpenAlexW2170891230
LanguageEN
Citations received147
References cited57

Depression is a disorder of impaired emotion regulation. Consequently, examining individual differences in the habitual use of emotion regulation strategies has considerable potential to inform models of this debilitating disorder. The aim of the current study was to identify cognitive processes that may be associated with the use of emotion regulation strategies and to elucidate their relation to depression. Depression has been found to be associated with difficulties in cognitive control and, more specifically, with difficulties inhibiting the processing of negative material. We used a negative affective priming task to assess the relations among inhibition and individual differences in the habitual use of rumination, reappraisal, and expressive suppression in clinically depressed, formerly depressed, and never-depressed participants. We found that depressed participants exhibited the predicted lack of inhibition when processing negative material. Moreover, within the group of depressed participants, reduced inhibition of negative material was associated with greater rumination. Across the entire sample, reduced inhibition of negative material was related to less use of reappraisal and more use of expressive suppression. Finally, within the formerly depressed group, less use of reappraisal, more use of rumination, and greater expressive suppression were related to higher levels of depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that individual differences in the use of emotion regulation strategies play an important role in depression, and that deficits in cognitive control are related to the use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in this disorder.

Cognition · Cognitive inhibition · Cognitive reappraisal · Depression (economics) · Developmental psychology · Emotional Regulation · Expressive Suppression · Major depressive disorder · Priming (agriculture) · Psychiatry · Rumination · Thought suppression · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Mental Health Research Topics · Psychology