How emotion regulation differs in mental disorders

What is it about?

Difficulties in regulating emotions, such as a lack of acceptance and problem-solving or an excess of suppression and rumination in the face of negative affect, are frequently reported in mental disorders. Emotion regulation difficulties also play a crucial role in psychotherapy. So far, however, the studies comparing emotion regulation across the spectrum of psychopathology are rare and limited. We therefore aimed to understand to what extent difficulties are unique to certain disorders or represent a universal phenomenon. To solve this, we analyzed data from a total of 619 studies involving over 78,000 participants worldwide. We investigated different emotion regulation strategies and general emotion regulation difficulties across the whole available range of mental disorders (e.g., anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, trauma- and stressor-related disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders). A common pattern was found: people with mental disorders are more likely to ruminate and suppress their emotions, and less likely to use helpful strategies such as reappraisal compared to nonclinical controls. At the same time, certain disorders showed particularly pronounced effects compared to other mental disorders. For example, depressive disorders were associated with particularly intense rumination and limited use of reappraisal, while personality disorders were linked to difficulties in accepting emotions and greater overall emotional dysregulation.

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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We provide one of the most comprehensive pieces of evidence to date that difficulties with emotion regulation are an important, shared characteristic across most mental disorders. The study provides important insights for the further development of psychotherapeutic approaches and for the prevention of mental illness. It shows that certain aspects of emotion regulation play a key role in mental health and represent a promising starting point for so-called transdiagnostic interventions, that is, treatments that are effective across different diagnoses. At the same time, it remains important to specifically address the unique characteristics of individual disorders in targeted and personalized care.

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