The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on Emotional Flexibility and Ambivalence Over Emotional Expression in Divorced Women: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

The present study was developed to evaluate the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on the level of emotional flexibility and ambivalence related to emotional expression of divorced women. A general community sample of 30 divorced women was recruited and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received MBSR for 8 weeks, and the control group was placed on a waiting list. The Emotional Flexibility Questionnaire (EFQ) and the Ambivalence Over the Expression of Emotion Questionnaire (AEQ) were administered to both groups before (pre) and after (post) the treatment. Data were analyzed using two-way mixed repeated-measures analyses of variance. The results showed that women in the treatment group had a significant increase in the total score of the EFQ and its components. In addition, the MBSR group had a significant decrease in the total score of the AEQ and its components. MBSR intervention shows potential for use with divorced women to help with emotion regulation and subsequent better adjustment to separation.

Problematic Prescription Opioid Use in a Chronic Pain Treatment Facility: The Role of Emotional Processes

BACKGROUND

Factors associated with prescription opioid misuse in a chronic pain treatment population are limited, and increasing our understanding of associated factors could lead to improved targeting of prevention and intervention efforts.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate factors associated with problematic prescription opioid use in patients with chronic pain, and whether assessing emotional processes - alexithymia, ambivalence over emotional expression (AEQ), and emotional approach coping - improves understanding of problematic prescription opioid use beyond traditional risk factors.

METHODS

Participants were 100 patients with chronic pain (mean age = 47.57 years, SD = 11.57; 53% female; 81% African American) who were receiving a self-administered opioid medication through a local pain clinic. We assessed traditional risk factors (substance use history, pain, psychiatric distress, and pain catastrophizing), the three emotional processes, and problematic prescription opioid-related outcomes.

RESULTS

Zero-order correlations revealed that alexithymia was significantly, positively related to problematic prescription opioid use behaviors (PDUQ), and AEQ was significantly positively related to both prescription opioid misuse behaviors and opioid use disorder symptoms. Multiple regressions that included traditional risk factors and the three emotional processes indicated that AEQ was a unique correlate of problematic opioid use behaviors (β=.27, p=.04) and prescription opioid-related symptoms of abuse and dependence (β=.37, p=.01); history of substance use disorders was also associated.

CONCLUSIONS

In addition to personal history of substance use problems, AEQ is a modifiable risk factor - and thus potential treatment target - for prescription opioid misuse and opioid use disorders.

Idle minds are the devil's tools? Coping, depressed mood and divergent thinking in older adults

OBJECTIVES

The main aim was to test a causal relations model of the problem-focused and emotion-focused coping styles, depressed mood, and divergent thinking (DT) in older adults. It was hypothesized that both forms of coping would have a significant effect on predicting depressed mood, and that problem-focused coping and depressed mood would have a significant effect on DT.

METHOD

Participants were 135 subjects with ages ranging between 55 and 84 years old, who took part in a personal interview and filled out several questionnaires. The statistical analysis included structural equations models (SEM).

RESULTS

The initial model led to a final model endorsed by the goodness of fit, composite reliability, and discriminant validity indexes. This model confirms a direct relationship between the two types of coping strategies and depressed mood (with the opposite sign), but not between rational coping and DT. Finally, depressed mood was also confirmed as a mediator variable between coping and DT.

CONCLUSION

The type of coping is a clear predictor of mood in older adults. Advanced age decline is not necessarily translated into inefficacy in everyday problem solving especially in those who, through proble-focused coping, avoid depressed moods and maintain good levels of DT.