What is it about?
This study investigates how people with Bipolar Disorder (BD) regulate their emotions and how their ability to manage thoughts and attention, known as cognitive control, influences this process. It compares individuals with BD to those without the disorder to understand differences in how they use and succeed with emotion regulation strategies, both spontaneously and when instructed. The findings show that people with BD report to habitually rely more on maladaptive strategies for negative emotions and suppress positive emotions more frequently. They also struggle to reduce positive emotions when asked to do so and exhibit weaker cognitive control, which partly explains their emotion regulation difficulties.
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Why is it important?
Understanding how emotion regulation and cognitive control are impaired in BD helps to clarify why people with the disorder experience emotional instability. These insights are crucial for developing better treatments and interventions, focusing on improving specific emotional and cognitive skills to enhance well-being and reduce the impact of the disorder on daily life.
Perspectives
This study sheds light on the complex challenges faced by people with BD, particularly the difficulty in balancing emotional highs and lows. What struck me most was how cognitive control plays such a pivotal role in their struggles. It underscores the importance of focusing on interventions that target not just emotional responses but also the underlying cognitive processes. This dual approach could offer a more comprehensive way to support individuals with BD, helping them navigate their emotional worlds with greater confidence and stability.
Larissa Wolkenstein
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cognitive–emotional impairments in euthymic bipolar disorder—New insights into emotion regulation and cognitive control deficits., Emotion, December 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/emo0001479.
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