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The Efficacy of Downward Counterfactual Thinking for Regulating Emotional Memories in Anxious Individuals

Aversive autobiographical memories sometimes prompt maladaptive emotional responses and contribute to affective dysfunction in anxiety and depression. One way to regulate the impact of such memories is to create a downward counterfactual thought–a mental simulation of how the event could have been w...

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Autores principales: Parikh, Natasha, De Brigard, Felipe, LaBar, Kevin S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8764234/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35058831
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712066
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author Parikh, Natasha
De Brigard, Felipe
LaBar, Kevin S.
author_facet Parikh, Natasha
De Brigard, Felipe
LaBar, Kevin S.
author_sort Parikh, Natasha
collection PubMed
description Aversive autobiographical memories sometimes prompt maladaptive emotional responses and contribute to affective dysfunction in anxiety and depression. One way to regulate the impact of such memories is to create a downward counterfactual thought–a mental simulation of how the event could have been worse–to put what occurred in a more positive light. Despite its intuitive appeal, counterfactual thinking has not been systematically studied for its regulatory efficacy. In the current study, we compared the regulatory impact of downward counterfactual thinking, temporal distancing, and memory rehearsal in 54 adult participants representing a spectrum of trait anxiety. Participants recalled regretful experiences and rated them on valence, arousal, regret, and episodic detail. Two to six days later, they created a downward counterfactual of the remembered event, thought of how they might feel about it 10 years from now, or simply rehearsed it. A day later, participants re-rated the phenomenological characteristics of the events. Across all participants, downward counterfactual thinking, temporal distancing, and memory rehearsal were equally effective at reducing negative affect associated with a memory. However, in individuals with higher trait anxiety, downward counterfactual thinking was more effective than rehearsal for reducing regret, and it was as effective as distancing in reducing arousal. We discuss these results in light of the functional theory of counterfactual thinking and suggest that they motivate further investigation into downward counterfactual thinking as a means to intentionally regulate emotional memories in affective disorders.
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spelling pubmed-87642342022-01-19 The Efficacy of Downward Counterfactual Thinking for Regulating Emotional Memories in Anxious Individuals Parikh, Natasha De Brigard, Felipe LaBar, Kevin S. Front Psychol Psychology Aversive autobiographical memories sometimes prompt maladaptive emotional responses and contribute to affective dysfunction in anxiety and depression. One way to regulate the impact of such memories is to create a downward counterfactual thought–a mental simulation of how the event could have been worse–to put what occurred in a more positive light. Despite its intuitive appeal, counterfactual thinking has not been systematically studied for its regulatory efficacy. In the current study, we compared the regulatory impact of downward counterfactual thinking, temporal distancing, and memory rehearsal in 54 adult participants representing a spectrum of trait anxiety. Participants recalled regretful experiences and rated them on valence, arousal, regret, and episodic detail. Two to six days later, they created a downward counterfactual of the remembered event, thought of how they might feel about it 10 years from now, or simply rehearsed it. A day later, participants re-rated the phenomenological characteristics of the events. Across all participants, downward counterfactual thinking, temporal distancing, and memory rehearsal were equally effective at reducing negative affect associated with a memory. However, in individuals with higher trait anxiety, downward counterfactual thinking was more effective than rehearsal for reducing regret, and it was as effective as distancing in reducing arousal. We discuss these results in light of the functional theory of counterfactual thinking and suggest that they motivate further investigation into downward counterfactual thinking as a means to intentionally regulate emotional memories in affective disorders. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-01-04 /pmc/articles/PMC8764234/ /pubmed/35058831 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712066 Text en Copyright © 2022 Parikh, De Brigard and LaBar. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Parikh, Natasha
De Brigard, Felipe
LaBar, Kevin S.
The Efficacy of Downward Counterfactual Thinking for Regulating Emotional Memories in Anxious Individuals
title The Efficacy of Downward Counterfactual Thinking for Regulating Emotional Memories in Anxious Individuals
title_full The Efficacy of Downward Counterfactual Thinking for Regulating Emotional Memories in Anxious Individuals
title_fullStr The Efficacy of Downward Counterfactual Thinking for Regulating Emotional Memories in Anxious Individuals
title_full_unstemmed The Efficacy of Downward Counterfactual Thinking for Regulating Emotional Memories in Anxious Individuals
title_short The Efficacy of Downward Counterfactual Thinking for Regulating Emotional Memories in Anxious Individuals
title_sort efficacy of downward counterfactual thinking for regulating emotional memories in anxious individuals
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8764234/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35058831
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712066
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