Nils Pfeiffer

Specific emotion regulation impairments in major depression and anorexia nervosa

Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties have been considered to play an important role in the development and maintenance of various mental disorders such as depression and anorexia nervosa. However, previous research has failed to provide detailed insight into the disorder-specificity of ER difficulties. Therefore, the present study investigated specific ER difficulties in female samples of patients with major depression, patients with anorexia nervosa, and healthy controls (total sample: N=140). As compared to healthy controls, both clinical groups reported greater ER difficulties concerning both the experience and the differentiation as well as the attenuation and the modulation of emotions. Patients in both clinical groups reported comparably elevated ER difficulties regarding the experience and differentiation of emotions. However, depressed patients reported stronger ER difficulties regarding the attenuation and modulation of emotions as compared to patients with anorexia nervosa. These findings support the notion of ER difficulties as transdiagnostic phenomena, and suggest that depression may be characterized by broader and greater ER difficulties than anorexia nervosa.

Mood Regulation and Cognitive Reactivity in Depression Vulnerability

There is substantial evidence supporting the hypothesis that cognitive reactivity is an important variable in the etiology of depression. However, there is a lack of studies examining possible mechanisms that underlie cognitive reactivity. The present study tested whether two specific mood regulation processes differentially appear in vulnerable and non-vulnerable individuals, and whether they can account for differences in cognitive reactivity. In a cross-sectional experimental design, 20 formerly-depressed individuals (FD) were compared with 20 never-depressed individuals (ND). In an autobiographical memory task both groups differed concerning the use of positively and negatively toned emotion words: FD retrieved fewer positive emotion words than ND in the second phase of this task. Furthermore, FD with a high cognitive reactivity retrieved more negatively toned emotion words. In the ND group there was a different pattern: Subjects with a high cognitive reactivity retrieved less positively toned emotion words. Two different cognitive processes seem to account for cognitive reactivity in individuals who are at high versus low risk for depression.

Reliabilität und Validität der deutschsprachigen Version der Generalized Expectancies for Negative Mood Regulation (NMR) Scale

Zusammenfassung. Generalisierten Erwartungen uber die Regulation negativer Stimmungen (im englischen Original: generalized expectancies for negative mood regulation; NMR) wird in Bezug auf die Affektregulation grose Bedeutung beigemessen. Catanzaro und Mearns (1990) hatten zur Messung dieser Erwartungen einen Fragebogen mit 30 Items konstruiert (NMR Scale). An mehreren Stichproben konnten sie die psychometrische Gute der NMR Scale bestatigen. Die vorliegende Studie untersuchte mit einer Stichprobe von N = 474 Personen die Reliabilitat und Validitat der deutschen Form der NMR Scale. Die Gesamtskala wies ein Cronbachs Alpha von .84 und eine Retest-Reliabilitat von .88 uber ein Zeitintervall von 4 Wochen auf. Eine explorative Faktorenanalyse legte eine eindimensionale Struktur des Itempools nahe. Bedeutsame Zusammenhange zum Geschlecht oder Alter der Probanden ergaben sich nicht. Die NMR Skala korrelierte signifikant mit Masen des affektiven und insbesondere depressiven Befindens (PANAS und BDI), was im Eink...

Generalized Expectancies for Negative Mood Regulation and Major Depressive Disorder: The Role of Previous Depressive Episodes and Comorbid Mental Disorders

Background: Generalized expectancies for negative mood regulation (NMR) have important consequences for the ability to regulate negative mood. This study tests two resulting hypotheses. NMR expectancies should correlate with the number of previous depressive episodes. Furthermore, there should be a correlation between NMR expectancies and the number of DSM-IV axis I disorders comorbid to depression. In order to test these hypotheses with an efficient instrument, this article presents the NMR-SF as a short form of the NMR Scale. Methods: During inpatient treatment, a sample of 40 depressed patients was interviewed by a clinical psychologist with the Structural Clinical Interview for DSM-IV to assess the number of previous depressive episodes as well as the number of axis I comorbidities. Patients completed the NMR-SF to measure NMR expectancies. Additionally, a nonclinical sample of 560 participants completed the NMR-SF to test its reliability and validity. Results: The findings indicate that the NMR-SF is reliable and valid. In the clinical sample, NMR expectancies did not correlate significantly with the number of previous depressive episodes. There was a significant correlation between NMR expectancies and the number of comorbid mental disorders. Conclusion: Previous depressive episodes do not seem to result in lower NMR expectancies. The findings are in line with the hypothesis that NMR expectancies are involved in the etiology of mental disorders comorbid to depression.

The temporal dynamics of cognitive reactivity and their association with the depression risk: an exploratory study.

Background: Cognitive reactivity is the change in depressive thinking in response to negative mood. Previous research indicates that cognitive reactivity is an important variable in the etiology and course of depression. The present study tested which time interval after a negative mood induction is critical for the prediction of the depression risk. Methods: Participants suffering from a major depressive disorder were recruited when entering inpatient treatment. At the end of inpatient treatment they completed an experimental procedure to assess their depressive thinking once before and twice after a negative mood induction. Subsequently, patients were followed up for 26 weeks. Results: The immediate change in depressive thinking in response to the negative mood induction was negatively associated with future depression. The delayed change did not predict the depression risk. Conclusion: The negative association between the immediate change in depressive thinking and the depression risk is not in line with results from previous studies on cognitive reactivity. Previous research on emotion context insensitivity and the avoidance of negative thoughts offers hypotheses which could account for this result. Further research is needed to shed light on the processes underlying cognitive reactivity.

Preliminary reliability and validity of the spanish generalized expectancies for negative mood regulation scale

OBJECTIVE This article introduces a Spanish version of the Generalized Expectancies for Negative Mood Regulation Scale (NMR-S) and tests the reliability and the validity of the new questionnaire. METHODS A sample of 360 students from Chile completed the NMR-S along with instruments measuring depressive symptoms, social desirability, coping, and emotion regulation. RESULTS A factor analysis indicated that the NMR-S has a one-dimensional structure. The reliability of the new instrument was α = 0.89. The concurrent validity of the NMR-S was supported by correlations with measures of coping, emotion regulation, and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the NMR-S predicted depressive symptoms when controlling for emotion regulation and coping. CONCLUSIONS The findings are the first evidence to support the reliability and validity of the NMR-S.

A New Method for Estimating the Variance Overlap Between the Short and the Long Form of a Psychological Test

In response to the low standards in short form development, Smith, McCarthy, and Anderson (2000) introduced a set of guidelines for the construction and evaluation of short forms of psychological tests. One of their recommendations requires researches to show that the variance overlap between the short form and its long form is adequate. This article introduces a new method for estimating this variance overlap. Subjects are randomly assigned to four different groups that are tested with different combinations of the long and the short form. This procedure makes it possible to estimate the effects that attenuate the variance overlap between the short and the long form. By controlling for these effects, the disattenuated coefficient VO gives an unbiased estimate of the variance overlap between both instruments.

Die Kurzversion der NMR Skala (NMR-SF) zur Erfassung der selbsteingeschätzten Fähigkeit zur Regulation negativer Stimmungen: Überblick und Konstruktvalidierung

The NMR-SF is the short form of the NMR Scale. The NMR-SF is a self-rating instrument to measure negative mood regulation expectancies. This construct is an important variable in the etiology and psychotherapy of mental disorders. The present study investigates the construct validity of the NMR-SF in 2 non-clinical samples and a sample of depressed patients. The NMR-SF was positively correlated with adaptive strategies of mood regulation and negatively with maladaptive strategies. High scores on the NMR-SF were associated with less psychopathology. There was a small positive correlation with social desirability. The results of the current study support the construct validity of the NMR-SF and indicate that its psychometric properties are good. Due to its efficiency, the NMR-SF is well applicable in clinical samples, especially when using repeated measurements designs.