Combining experience sampling with temporal network analysis to understand inertia of negative emotion in dysphoria

Tao Chen; Pengchong Wang; Ya Wang; Muireann Irish

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2023.06.006

Combining experience sampling with temporal network analysis to understand inertia of negative emotion in dysphoria

J Affect Disord. 2023 Oct 1:338:246-253. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.06.006. Epub 2023 Jun 12.

Authors

Tao Chen¹, Pengchong Wang², Ya Wang³, Muireann Irish⁴

Affiliations

¹ The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, Australia; The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Sydney, Australia.
² Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Centre for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
³ Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, Australia; The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: muireann.irish@sydney.edu.au.

PMID: 37315591
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.06.006

Abstract

Background: Emotional inertia refers to the resistance to update or change an emotional state and is a hallmark of maladaptive emotional dynamics in psychopathology. Little is known, however, about the role of emotion regulation in negative emotional inertia in dysphoria. The current study aimed to explore the association between inertia of discrete negative emotions, and emotion-specific emotion regulation strategy selection use and efficacy in dysphoria.

Methods: The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD) was used to divide university students into a dysphoria (N = 65) and non-dysphoria control (N = 62) group. Using an experience sampling approach delivered via a smartphone app, participants were queried semi-randomly regarding negative emotions and emotion regulation strategies 10 times a day for 7 consecutive days. Temporal network analysis was employed to estimate autoregressive connections for each discrete negative emotion (inertia of negative emotion) and the bridge connections between negative emotion and emotion regulation clusters.

Results: Participants with dysphoria showed stronger inertia for anger and sadness in the context of the use of emotion-specific regulation strategies. Specifically, individuals with dysphoria displaying greater inertia of anger were more likely to ruminate about the past to cope with anger, and to ruminate on the past and future when experiencing sadness.

Limitations: Lack of a clinical depression patient group for comparison.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest an inflexibility to adaptively shift attention from discrete negative emotions in dysphoria and provide important insights for development of interventions to support wellbeing in this population.

Keywords: Affective flexibility; Depression; Emotion regulation; Experience sampling method; Network analysis; Rumination.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anger
Depressive Disorder, Major*
Ecological Momentary Assessment*
Emotions / physiology
Humans
Sadness