Department of Psychology,University of Georgia,GA,USA.
Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering,Binghamton University,NY,USA.
Psychol Med. 2018 Oct;48(14):2337-2345. doi: 10.1017/S0033291717003865. Epub 2018 Jan 24.
Prior studies using self-report questionnaires and laboratory-based methods suggest that schizophrenia is characterized by abnormalities in emotion regulation (i.e. using strategies to increase or decrease the frequency, duration, or intensity of negative emotion). However, it is unclear whether these abnormalities reflect poor emotion regulation effort or adequate effort, but limited effectiveness. It is also unclear whether dysfunction results primarily from one of the three stages of the emotion regulation process: identification, selection, or implementation.
The current study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to address these questions in the context of everyday activities. Participants included 28 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ) and 28 demographically matched healthy controls (CN) who completed 6 days of EMA reports of in-the-moment emotional experience, emotion regulation strategy use, and context.
Results indicated that SZ demonstrated adequate emotion regulation effort, but poor effectiveness. Abnormalities were observed at each of the three stages of the emotion regulation process. At the identification stage, SZ initiated emotion regulation efforts at a lower threshold of negative emotion intensity. At the selection stage, SZ selected more strategies than CN and strategies attempted were less contextually appropriate. At the implementation stage, moderate to high levels of effort were ineffective at decreasing negative emotion.
Findings suggest that although SZ attempt to control their emotions using various strategies, often applying more effort than CN, these efforts are unsuccessful; emotion regulation abnormalities may result from difficulties at the identification, selection, and implementation stages.
先前使用自陈式问卷和基于实验室的方法的研究表明，精神分裂症的特征是情绪调节异常（即使用增加或减少负面情绪的频率、持续时间或强度的策略）。然而，目前尚不清楚这些异常是否反映了情绪调节努力不足或努力充分但效果不佳。也不清楚功能障碍主要是情绪调节过程的三个阶段之一造成的：识别、选择还是执行。
本研究使用生态瞬时评估（EMA）在日常活动背景下解决这些问题。参与者包括 28 名被诊断为精神分裂症（SZ）的门诊患者和 28 名在人口统计学上与之匹配的健康对照者（CN），他们完成了 6 天的 EMA 报告，报告了即时的情绪体验、情绪调节策略的使用和环境。
结果表明，SZ 表现出了充分的情绪调节努力，但效果不佳。在情绪调节过程的三个阶段都观察到了异常。在识别阶段，SZ 在负面情绪强度较低的阈值时就开始进行情绪调节努力。在选择阶段，SZ 比 CN 选择的策略更多，且尝试的策略与环境的适配度较差。在执行阶段，中等至高程度的努力对降低负面情绪无效。
研究结果表明，尽管 SZ 试图通过使用各种策略来控制自己的情绪，而且通常比 CN 付出更多的努力，但这些努力都不成功；情绪调节异常可能是由于识别、选择和执行阶段的困难造成的。
