Emotion Regulation Protects Against Recurrence of Depressive Symptoms Following Inpatient Care for Major Depressive Disorder.

Emotion Regulation Protects Against Recurrence of Depressive Symptoms Following Inpatient Care for Major Depressive Disorder. Behav Ther. 2017 Nov;48(6):739-749 Authors: Ebert DD, Hopfinger L, Bockting CLH, Berking M Abstract Relapse following response in psychotherapy for major depressive disorder (MDD) is a major concern. Emotion regulation (ER) has been discussed as a putative emerging and maintaining factor for depression. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether ER protects against recurrence of depression over and above residual symptoms of depression following inpatient care for MDD. ER skills (ERSQ-ES) and depression (HEALTH-49) were assessed in 193 patients with MDD (age, M = 47.4, SD = 9.6, 75.1% female, 100% Caucasian) at treatment discontinuation, 3 and 12 months after treatment. Multiple hierarchical regressions were used to examine general and specific ER as predictors of depressive symptoms at follow-ups. Higher general ER predicted lower depression over and beyond residual symptoms of depression at 3-month follow-up among treatment responders but not among treatment nonresponders. With regard to specific ER skills, readiness to confront and acceptance of undesired emotions predicted lower depressive symptoms beyond residual symptoms of depression 12 months, respectively 3 and 12 months after treatment. Findings of the present study indicate that targeting general ER might be more important for remitted ...
Source: Behavior Therapy - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Behav Ther Source Type: research