Effectiveness of an Ecological Momentary Emotion Regulation Intervention

Summary

This two-armed randomized controlled trial aims to investigate the effectiveness of an emotion regulation intervention in individuals with and without depressive disorders. The study encompasses participants diagnosed with mild to moderate major depression or persistent depressive disorder and healthy controls without a current depressive disorder.

Participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group, receiving a valence-specific emotion regulation intervention in daily life, or a monitoring-only control group. The valence-specific intervention supports the implementation of different emotion regulation strategies based on whether a person is experiencing mainly positive or negative emotions. In contrast, participants in the control group will solely monitor their positive and negative emotions and the strategies used to regulate them.

Outcome measures include emotion regulation ability, self-efficacy, and strategy use, depressive symptoms, positive and negative affect, and emotion beliefs (controllability, usefulness).

A second aim of the study is to compare beliefs about positive emotions and strategies to regulate them between individuals with and without current depressive disorders. Furthermore, the investigators aim to examine why individuals might choose unfavorable emotion regulation strategies even when feeling good. Therefore, another research question is, how emotion beliefs might explain emotion regulation strategy choice.

Conditions

• Depressive Disorder, Major
• Persistent Depressive Disorder
• Healthy

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Valence-Specific Ecological Momentary Intervention

The ecological momentary intervention is designed to enhance participants ability to select and effectively implement emotion regulation strategies fitting to the valence of their current emotions. Specifically, the intervention instructs participants to use the strategy of savoring to amplify their positive emotions, fostering an appreciation for the present moment. Conversely, for the attenuation of negative emotions, the intervention advocates to use the strategy of reappraisal, encouraging participants to reinterpret adverse situations in a more positive or neutral way, thus reducing their emotional impact. This targeted approach ensures that the emotion regulation strategies are not only effective but also contextually appropriate.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Heidelberg University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ilka Mueller, M.Sc. · Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University

• Luise Pruessner, M.Sc. · Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University

• Steffen Hartmann, M.Sc. · Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University

• Sven Barnow, PhD · Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-01-12

Primary Completion

2025-08-31

Completion

2025-08-31

Countries

• Germany

Study Locations