Emotion regulation as mechanism of change in the treatment of depression - A latent change score analysis - PubMed
2 days ago
- #Mechanism of Change
- #Depression Treatment
- #Emotion Regulation
- Emotion regulation (ER) deficits are linked to major depressive disorder (MDD), making ER a key target in depression treatment.
- In a secondary analysis of an RCT on 8-week group-based Affect Regulation Training (N=73), ER was examined as a mechanism of change.
- Cross-sectional analyses showed consistent negative correlations between ER and depressive symptom severity (DSS) at all assessment time points.
- Longitudinal analyses via latent growth curve modeling indicated that increases in ER skills during treatment were associated with decreases in DSS.
- Bivariate latent change score modeling revealed that improvements in ER predicted subsequent reductions in DSS, but not vice versa.
- Findings support a causal relationship where enhancing ER skills leads to reduced depression symptoms, highlighting ER as a critical mechanism of change.
- The study suggests future research should explore ER as a transdiagnostic factor across other mental health conditions.