Shetty Tanisha, Kashyap Himani, Mehta Urvakhsh Meherwan
Dept. of Clinical Psychology, M.V. Govindaswamy Centre, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Dept. of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Indian J Psychol Med. 2025 Jun 11:02537176251340586. doi: 10.1177/02537176251340586.
Executive function (EF) and emotion regulation (ER) deficits are prevalent in depressive and anxiety disorders, suggesting a transdiagnostic role. Given their role in treatment engagement, symptom reduction, and relapse prevention, we examine EF and ER interrelationships in these disorders.
Participants ( = 27 depressive/anxiety disorders, = 27 nonclinical group) underwent psychiatric screening and assessments of symptom severity, EF (set-shifting, response inhibition [RI], working memory [WM], verbal fluency, planning), and ER (severity, strategies, situational ER following emotion induction). Mann-Whitney -test/-test was used for group comparisons, and Pearson's/Spearman's test was used for correlations.
The clinical group showed lower WM (Cohen's = 0.94, = .001), verbal fluency (Cohen's = 0.7, = .01), and RI (Cohen's = 0.35, = .02); greater ER difficulties (Cohen's = -1.40, < .001), greater negative ER strategy use of catastrophizing (Cohen's = 0.55, < .001); and on the emotion-induction task-higher use of acceptance, other-blame, but no positive reappraisal. The nonclinical group showed greater positive ER strategy use of refocus on plan (Cohen's = 0.53, < .001) and no use of rumination on the emotion-induction task. The severity of ER difficulties correlated with poorer WM ( = .006); acceptance as an ER strategy correlated with poorer RI ( = .02). EF and ER difficulties and maladaptive strategies were significantly higher in the depression/anxiety group.
The findings extend prior research by providing actionable insights for tailored interventions and merit testing in larger samples. With poorer WM linked to greater ER difficulties and inefficient RI to passive acceptance, interventions such as cognitive training may enhance ER.
执行功能（EF）和情绪调节（ER）缺陷在抑郁和焦虑障碍中普遍存在，提示其具有跨诊断作用。鉴于它们在治疗参与、症状减轻和预防复发方面的作用，我们研究了这些障碍中EF和ER的相互关系。
参与者（抑郁/焦虑障碍组 = 27人，非临床组 = 27人）接受了精神科筛查以及症状严重程度、EF（转换任务、反应抑制[RI]、工作记忆[WM]、语言流畅性、计划）和ER（严重程度、策略、情绪诱导后的情境性ER）评估。采用Mann-Whitney U检验/t检验进行组间比较，采用Pearson检验/ Spearman检验进行相关性分析。
临床组表现出较低的WM（Cohen's d = 0.94，p = .001）、语言流畅性（Cohen's d = 0.7，p = .01）和RI（Cohen's d = 0.35，p = .02）；ER困难更大（Cohen's d = -1.40，p < .001），消极ER策略“灾难化”的使用更多（Cohen's d = 0.55，p < .001）；在情绪诱导任务中，更多地使用接受、指责他人，但没有积极的重新评价。非临床组在情绪诱导任务中表现出更多地积极使用“重新专注于计划”的ER策略（Cohen's d = 0.53，p < .001），且没有反刍思维。ER困难的严重程度与较差的WM相关（p = .006）；将接受作为一种ER策略与较差的RI相关（p = .02）。抑郁/焦虑组的EF和ER困难以及适应不良策略显著更高。
这些发现通过为量身定制的干预措施提供可操作的见解扩展了先前的研究，值得在更大样本中进行验证。由于较差的WM与更大的ER困难相关，低效的RI与被动接受相关，认知训练等干预措施可能会增强ER。
