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Facilitating Adaptive Emotional Analysis: Distinguishing Distanced-Analysis of Depressive Experiences From Immersed-Analysis and Distraction

Columbia University, ekross{at}psych.columbia.edu

Ozlem Ayduk

University of California, Berkeley, ayduk{at}berkeley.edu

Two studies examined the psychological processes that facilitate adaptive emotional analysis. In Study 1, participants recalled a depression experience and then analyzed their feelings from either a self-immersed (immersed-analysis) or self-distanced (distanced-analysis) perspective. Participants in the distanced-analysis group focused less on recounting their experience and more on reconstruing it, which in turn led to lower levels of depressed affect. Furthermore, comparisons to a distraction group indicated that distanced-analysis was as effective as distraction in reducing depressed affect relative to the immersed-analysis group. Study 2 replicated these findings and showed that both 1 day and 7 days after the experimental manipulations, participants in the distanced-analysis group remained buffered against depressed affect and reported experiencing fewer recurring thoughts about their depression experience over time compared to both the immersed-analysis and distraction groups.

Key Words: psychological distance • rumination • emotion regulation • depression • emotional processing • autobiographical memory

This version was published on July 1, 2008

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 7, 924-938 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167208315938


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