Learning to see the glass half full: Efficacy and mechanisms of a daily life emotion regulation intervention for depression

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Sven Barnow; Dr. Katrin Schulze
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 561208705

Depressive disorders are a leading cause of disability worldwide. While emotion regulation is known to alleviate depressive symptoms, the precise cognitive mechanisms that drive this improvement remain elusive, especially their causal and interactive nature. Critically, there is a lack of studies directly targeting emotion regulation strategies in everyday life. By leveraging recent insights from Ecological Momentary Interventions (EMIs), we will examine the temporal dynamics through which the cognitive mechanisms of interpretation bias and emotional inhibitory control mediate the effects of reappraisal and rumination on depressive symptoms. The objectives of our project are threefold: (1) to develop and assess an EMI specifically targeting reappraisal and rumination in everyday life for adults with depressive symptoms, (2) to identify and clarify the cognitive mechanisms underlying EMI effectiveness, and (3) to uncover interactive patterns through which these cognitive mechanisms mediate EMI outcomes. Participants with mild to severe depressive symptoms will be randomly assigned to one of four 1-month EMIs: 1) enhancing reappraisal; 2) reducing rumination; 3) combined group; 4) control. Pre- and post-intervention, as well as at a 3-month follow-up, participants will report on their depressive symptoms and use of rumination and reappraisal. To assess the underlying cognitive mechanisms, tasks measuring interpretation bias and emotional inhibitory control will be administered pre-, peri- (weekly), post-intervention, and at follow-up. First, we hypothesize that reappraisal and rumination EMIs will each reduce depressive symptoms, with combined EMI yielding stronger and more sustained effects. Second, we hypothesize that reappraisal and rumination EMIs will reduce interpretation bias and increase emotional inhibitory control, with stronger effects in the combined EMI. Third, a distinct interactive interplay between interpretation bias and emotional inhibitory control is expected to mediate the reduction in depressive symptoms in each of the active EMIs. With these insights, we aim to break new ground, demonstrating, for the first time, how the interactive nature of interpretation bias and emotional inhibitory control mediate the link between emotion regulation and depression. Specifically, this research is novel in systematically examining the cognitive mechanisms mediating the effect of reappraisal and rumination interventions on depression, as well as the interactive pattern of these mechanisms throughout the intervention. These insights could guide the development of more precise, tailored, cost-effective, and accessible interventions that account for the interplay between cognitive mechanisms in depression, ultimately improving treatment outcomes.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Israel
• Partner Organisation: The Israel Science Foundation
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Dr. Noga Cohen
• Co-Investigator: Luise Pruessner