Diana G. Căzănescu1*, Aurora Szentagotai-Tătar2
*cazanescu.diana@gmail.com
1Evidence-based Assessment and Psychological Interventions Doctoral School;
The International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy
and Applied Mental Health, Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania
2Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy,
The International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy
and Applied Mental Health, Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania
Abstract
While research on mood disorders has been mostly focused on negative emotions, recent data shows that studying positive emotion regulation may be essential for a better understanding of psychopathological mechanisms. There is evidence showing that depressive symptoms are associated with disturbances in the regulation of positive affect. Research on cognitive models also shows that irrational beliefs are important factors contributing to depression. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between irrational beliefs described in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT): demandingness (DEM), awfulizing (AWL), low frustration tolerance (LFT) and self-downing/ other-downing (SD/OD) and dampening strategies in depression. Data were collected from a sample of 157 individuals from the general population (82.2% females), Mage=26.32. SD/OD explained the highest variance of dampening strategies (R2Adjusted = .22, p<.001). Mediation analyses revealed that dampening strategies mediate the relation between SD/OD and depression.
Keywords: irrational beliefs, dampening, self-downing, depression
Published online: 2018/03/01
Published print: 2018/03/01
References
Blatt, S. J. (1995). The destructiveness of perfectionism: Implications for the treatment of depression. American psychologist, 50 (12), 1003.
Borkovec, T. D., Alcaine, O., & Behar, E. (2004). Avoidance theory of worry and generalized anxiety disorder. Generalized anxiety disorder: Advances in research and practice, 2004.
Bryant, F. (2003). Savoring Beliefs Inventory (SBI): A scale for measuring beliefs about savouring. Journal of mental health, 12(2), 175-196.
Bryant, F. B. (1989). A four‐factor model of perceived control: Avoiding, coping, obtaining, and savoring. Journal of personality, 57(4), 773-797.
Carl, J. R., Soskin, D. P., Kerns, C., & Barlow, D. H. (2013). Positive emotion regulation in emotional disorders: A theoretical review. Clinical psychology review, 33(3), 343-360.
Clara, I. P., Cox, B. J., & Enns, M. W. (2001). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Depression–Anxiety–Stress Scales in depressed and anxious patients. Journal of psychopathology and behavioral assessment, 23(1), 61-67.
DiGiuseppe, R., Leaf, R., Exner, T., & Robin, M. (1988). The development of a measure of irrational/rational thinking. In World Congress of Behavior Therapy, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Ellis, A. (1962). Reason and emotion in psychotherapy.
Ellis, A. (1994). Reason and emotion in psychotherapy (Rev. ed.). New York: Birch Lane Press.
Feldman, G. C., Joormann, J., & Johnson, S. L. (2008). Responses to positive affect: A self-report measure of rumination and dampening. Cognitive therapy and research, 32(4), 507.
Gentzler, A. L., Palmer, C. A., & Ramsey, M. A. (2016). Savoring with intent: Investi¬gating types of and motives for responses to positive events. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(3), 937-958.
Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: an integrative review. Review of general psychology, 2(3), 271.
Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of personality and social psychology, 85(2), 348.
Johnson, S. L., Tharp, J. A., Peckham, A. D., & McMaster, K. J. (2016). Emotion in bipolar I disorder: Implications for functional and symptom outcomes. Journal of abnormal psychology, 125(1), 40.
Kashdan, T. B., & Steger, M. F. (2006). Expanding the topography of social anxiety: An experience-sampling assessment of positive emotions, positive events, and emotion suppression. Psychological Science, 17(2), 120-128.
Li, Y. I., Starr, L. R., & Hershenberg, R. (2017). Responses to positive affect in daily life: Positive rumination and dampening moderate the association between daily events and depressive symptoms. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 39(3), 412-425.
Macavei, B. (2002). A Romanian adaptation of the Attitudes and Belief Scale 2. Romanian Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies, 2(2), 105-122.
Macavei, B. (2005). The role of irrational beliefs in the rational emotive behavior theory of depression. Journal Of Cognitive & Behavioral Psychotherapies, 5(1).
McDermut, J. F., Haaga, D. A., & Bilek, L. A. (1997). Cognitive bias and irrational beliefs in major depression and dysphoria. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 21(4), 459-476.
Muran, J. C., Kassinove, H., Ross, S., & Muran, E. (1989). Irrational thinking and negative emotionality in college students and applicants for mental health services. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45(2), 188-193.
Nelis, D., Quoidbach, J., Hansenne, M., & Mikolajczak, M. (2011). Measuring individual differences in emotion regulation: The Emotion Regulation Profile-Revised (ERP-R). Psychologica Belgica.
Nelson, R. E. (1977). Irrational beliefs in depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45(6), 1190.
Parrott, W. G. (1993). Beyond hedonism: Motives for inhibiting good moods and for
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior research methods, 40(3), 879-891.
Raes, F., Smets, J., Nelis, S., & Schoofs, H. (2012). Dampening of positive affect prospectively predicts depressive symptoms in non-clinical samples. Cognition & Emotion, 26(1), 75-82.
Schwartz, B., Ward, A., Monterosso, J., Lyubomirsky, S., White, K., & Lehman, D. R. (2002). Maximizing versus satisficing: Happiness is a matter of choice. Journal of personality and social psychology, 83(5), 1178.
Su, J. C., Lee, R. M., & Oishi, S. (2013). The role of culture and self-construal in the link between expressive suppression and depressive symptoms. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(2), 316-331.
Szentagotai, A., David, D., Lupu, V., & Cosman, D. (2008). Rational emotive behavior therapy versus cognitive therapy versus pharmacotherapy in the treatment of major depressive disorder: Mechanisms of change analysis. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 45(4), 523.
Vîslă, A., Flückiger, C., Grosse Holtforth, M., & David, D. (2016). Irrational beliefs and psychological distress: a meta-analysis. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 85(1), 8-15.
Werner-Seidler, A., Banks, R., Dunn, B. D., & Moulds, M. L. (2013). An investigation of the relationship between positive affect regulation and depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 51(1), 46-56.
Wood, J. V., Heimpel, S. A., & Michela, J. L. (2003). Savoring versus dampening: self-esteem differences in regulating positive affect. Journal of personality and social psychology, 85(3), 566.
