Stuck with the foot on the pedal: Depression and motivated emotion regulation in daily life.

According to cybernetic approaches, emotion regulation is motivated by the desire to reduce discrepancies between experienced and desired emotions. Yet, this assumption has rarely been tested directly in healthy or unhealthy populations. In two ecological momentary assessment studies, we monitored motivated emotion regulation in daily life in participants who varied in the severity of their depressive symptoms (Study 1; N = 173) and in clinically depressed and nondepressed participants (Study 2; N = 120). Across studies, associations between motivation in emotion regulation and discrepancies between experienced and desired emotions differed by depression. As expected, as discrepancies between experienced and desired emotions increased, individuals with lower depressive symptoms or without a clinical depression diagnosis were more motivated to regulate their emotions. In contrast, we found no evidence (Study 1) or weaker evidence (Study 2) for sensitivity to the size of the discrepancies between experienced and desired emotions among individuals with higher depressive symptoms or those diagnosed with clinical depression. These individuals were consistently motivated to regulate their emotions, regardless of the size of the discrepancies. These findings suggest that individuals prone to or suffering from depression may be less sensitive than nondepressed individuals to regulatory demands in emotion regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Choosing to avoid the positive? Emotion regulation strategy choice in depression.

Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) are more likely than nondepressed individuals to use emotion regulation strategies that decrease pleasant emotions (e.g., distraction from positive stimuli) and increase unpleasant emotions (e.g., negative rumination). If such strategies are actively chosen, these choices may partly reflect weaker motivation for pleasant emotions or stronger motivation for unpleasant emotions. Therefore, this investigation tested, for the first time, whether such strategies are actively chosen, even when alternatives are available. In Study 1, using a behavioral task, MDD participants (N = 38) were more likely than healthy controls (N = 39) to choose to use distraction over positive rumination in response to pleasant stimuli, resulting in reductions in pleasant affect. When instructed to choose the strategy that would make them feel better, however, MDD participants did not differ from controls in their strategy choices. In Study 2, using ecological momentary assessments, MDD participants (N = 58) were more likely than controls (N = 62) to use distraction from pleasant emotions and to use negative rumination in daily life. This pattern of strategy use was predicted by stronger motivation for unpleasant emotions among MDD participants, compared to controls. Stronger motivation for unpleasant emotions in daily life also predicted increases in unpleasant affect and decreases in pleasant affect. Findings suggest that compared to nondepressed individuals, people with MDD are more likely to choose emotion regulation strategies that decrease pleasant emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Desired sadness, happiness, fear and calmness in depression: The potential roles of valence and arousal.

Prior research has shown that clinically depressed individuals are somewhat more motivated to feel sadness and less motivated to feel happiness than nondepressed individuals are. However, what underlies these patterns is not yet clear, as people may be motivated to experience positive (vs. negative) valence, high (vs. low) arousal, or discrete emotions. To test these possibilities, we assessed the motivation to experience emotions that capture different combinations of positive and negative valence and high and low arousal (i.e., sadness, happiness, fear and calmness) in 36 clinically depressed and 36 nondepressed college students (76% females, Mage = 24.5). We measured desired emotions by selections of emotional music clips and by the self-reported desirability of emotions. We found that both depressed and nondepressed individuals desired calmness the most across measures, and this desire was stronger among depressed individuals. We replicated prior findings, such that across measures, depressed individuals were relatively more motivated to feel sadness than nondepressed individuals were. Furthermore, whereas nondepressed individuals were motivated to listen to music clips and experience emotions that were positive (vs. negative) in valence, this was not necessarily the case among depressed individuals. Compared to nondepressed individuals, depressed individuals desired music that was relatively lower (vs. higher) in arousal, but reported a relatively stronger desire for negative (vs. positive) emotions. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding motivated emotion regulation in depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).