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Emotional Intensity and Emotion Regulation in Response to Autobiographical Memories During Dysphoria

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Abstract

Retrieving personal memories may provoke different emotions and a need for emotion regulation. Emotional responses have been studied scarcely in relation to autobiographical memory retrieval. We examined the emotional response to everyday involuntary (spontaneously arising) and voluntary (strategically retrieved) memories, and how this response may be different during dysphoria. Participants (20 dysphoric and 23 non-depressed) completed a structured diary where the intensity of basic emotions and regulation strategies employed upon retrieval of memories were rated. Brooding, memory suppression, and emotional suppression were higher for all individuals’ involuntary memories than voluntary memories. Negative emotions and regulation strategies were greater for dysphoric individuals for both involuntary and voluntary memories after controlling for the valence of the remembered events. The results provide new insights into the understudied topic of emotional responses to everyday memories and suggest a novel interpretation of the intrusive nature of memories in psychological disorders, such as depression.

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Notes

  1. Supplementary analyses were conducted with the original sample of all diary completers (n = 24 non-depressed, and n = 28 dysphoric individuals, N = 52). The pattern of results for the emotional regulation strategies was exactly the same as that presented on Table 2 (but with the expected variations in effect size and significance level). There were significant differences for brooding, emotional suppression, and memory suppression for both Retrieval mode (ps < 0.004; with involuntary memories associated with higher ratings) and Group (ps < 0.005; with dysphoric individuals reporting higher ratings). Reflection remained as a trend. The pattern for emotional intensity was the same for Group differences (dysphoria was associated with greater fear, sadness, and anger, ps < 0.002) and no differences were identified for happiness. The Retrieval effect pattern was slightly different. There were trends for greater fear (p = .05), sadness (p = .03), and happiness (p = .04), for involuntary memories, and no differences for anger (p = .13). Overall, these results support our final conclusions. There were higher ratings for brooding, memory suppression, and emotional suppression for involuntary memories and dysphoric individuals, higher ratings for negative emotions in dysphoria for both retrieval modes, and trends for greater intensity of various emotions in association with involuntary memories.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Maike Bohn, Anne Sofie Jakobsen, and Tanne Hundahl for their assistance in data collection and data entry. We also thank Ole Karkov Østergård and Studenterrådgivningen (Aarhus) for their help with recruiting participants. The authors were supported by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF) under Grant DNRF89 for conducting this study. The DNRF had no involvement in the design or the interpretation of the results of the current study. All authors declare no conflict of interest.

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  1. Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University, Bartholis Allé 9, 1351-427, Aarhus, Denmark

    Adriana del Palacio-Gonzalez, Dorthe Berntsen & Lynn A. Watson

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  1. Adriana del Palacio-Gonzalez
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  2. Dorthe Berntsen
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  3. Lynn A. Watson
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Correspondence to Adriana del Palacio-Gonzalez.

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Adriana del Palacio-Gonzalez, Dorthe Berntsen and Lynn A. Watson declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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del Palacio-Gonzalez, A., Berntsen, D. & Watson, L.A. Emotional Intensity and Emotion Regulation in Response to Autobiographical Memories During Dysphoria. Cogn Ther Res 41, 530–542 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-017-9841-1

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