Daily life affective dynamics as transdiagnostic predictors of mental health symptoms: An ecological momentary assessment study

BACKGROUND

Affective dynamics have been identified as a correlate of a broad span of mental health issues, making them key candidate transdiagnostic factors. However, there remains a lack of knowledge about which aspects of affective dynamics - especially as they manifest in the course of daily life - relate to a general risk for mental health issues versus specific symptoms.

METHODS

We leverage an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study design with four measures per day over a two-week period to explore how negative affect levels, inertia, lability, and reactivity to provocation and stress in the course of daily life relate to mental health symptoms in young adults (n = 256) in the domains of anxiety, depression, psychosis-like symptoms, behaviour problems, suicidality, and substance use.

RESULTS

Dynamic structural equation modelling (DSEM) suggested that negative affect levels in daily life were associated with depression, anxiety, indirect and proactive aggression, psychosis, anxiety, and self-injury; negative affective lability was associated with depression, physical aggression, reactive aggression, suicidal ideation, and ADHD symptoms; negative affective inertia was associated with depression, anxiety, physical aggression, and cannabis use; and emotional reactivity to provocation was related to physical aggression.

LIMITATIONS

The cross-sectional design, the limited span of mental health issues included, and the convenience nature and small size of the sample are limitations.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that a subset of mental health symptoms have shared negative affective dynamics patterns. Longitudinal research is needed to rigorously examine the directionality of the effects underlying the association between affective dynamics and mental health issues.

Aberrant positive affect dynamics in individuals with subthreshold depression: Evidence from laboratory and real-world assessments

Background/Objective

Reduced positive affect (PA) is a core feature of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the precursor of MDD, subthreshold depression (StD), has received less attention in this regard. Therefore, we examined PA dynamics in StD, integrating laboratory-based and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) approaches.

Method

Participants were college students recruited from Chinese universities (31 with StD, and 39 healthy controls (HC)). Positive mood was induced in the laboratory by an eight-minute comedy clip used to assess PA reactivity and maintenance. To extend findings to the real world and explore mechanisms of PA maintenance, 53 participants with StD and 64 HC reported their emotional states 14 times daily for one week via EMA. Multilevel models were used to test for predictors of PA inertia.

Results

In the laboratory, participants with StD achieved the same PA reactivity as HC when facing positive stimuli, yet the curve-fitting revealed difficulties for the StD group in maintaining PA over time. Such reduced capacity was further observed in real-world settings, manifesting in significantly greater PA inertia.

Conclusions

High PA inertia in daily life may reflect resistance to mood change in StD, explaining anhedonia and difficulties with emotional maintenance, and highlighting the need for early identification.

Daily Affective Dynamics in Major Depressive Disorder: The Role of Daily Stressors and Positive Events

This study examined daily affective dynamic indices among individuals with a major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnosis in the past one year at the time of the interview, focusing on affective variability and change in affect in response to daily events (affective reactivity). Data were from the main survey and daily diary project of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Participants (N = 1,970; nMDD = 202; nnon-MDD = 1,768) completed structured clinical interviews on mental health and telephone interviews about their daily experiences spanning eight consecutive days. Multilevel models revealed that the MDD group experienced greater positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) variability than the non-MDD group. On days that at least one stressful event was reported, the MDD group experienced a greater decrease in PA and a greater increase in NA. On days that at least one positive event was reported, the MDD group experienced a greater increase in PA and a greater decrease in NA. Changes in affect to daily events, particularly the mood brightening effect, may be indicators of depression and potential targets for intervention. Limitations of the study include a community sample, reliance on self-reported measures of daily stressors and positive events, inclusion of remitted and current MDD participants, and the DSM-III-R based criteria for MDD diagnosis.

Daily-level relationships between negative affect, negative emotion differentiation, and cannabis behaviors among a high-risk sample of young adults

Prior research suggests that higher trait negative emotion differentiation (NED; one's ability to make subtle distinctions between different negative emotional states) is associated with consuming less alcohol when experiencing high negative affect (NA) in daily life. Yet, whether these findings extend to cannabis use behaviors is unclear. The present study used intensive daily data to test whether NED moderated the relationship between NA and cannabis behaviors. A community sample of 409 young adults who used alcohol and cannabis completed a baseline survey and five 2-week bursts of online surveys across two years. Multilevel models tested cross-level interactions between trait NED (person-level) and daily NA (daily-level) predicting cannabis use, hours high, negative consequences, craving, and coping motives. In contrast to expectations, on days with higher reported NA, people with higher NED (compared to those with lower NED) had a greater likelihood of experiencing any cannabis craving, experienced more intense craving, and reported higher cannabis coping motives. NED x NA interaction was not significant for likelihood of cannabis use, hours high, or negative consequences. Post-hoc descriptive analyses suggest notable person-specific heterogeneity in these findings. Individuals with higher ability to differentiate between negative emotions reported higher coping motives and craving when experiencing higher NA. However, these associations were variable for individuals within the sample. It may be that high NED individuals crave and purposefully use cannabis to reduce NA states. Findings are inconsistent with the alcohol literature and have important implications for intervention efforts aimed at reducing coping-motivated cannabis use among young adults.

Be Kind to Yourself: the Implications of Momentary Self-Compassion for Affective Dynamics and Well-Being in Daily Life

Objectives

While self-compassion (SC) has mostly been understood as a stable trait-like property, growing evidence suggests that it may fluctuate over time within a given individual. However, little is known on how these fluctuations relate to affective well-being and affective dynamics, such as emotional inertia and stress reactivity in daily life.

Methods

A sample of 119 non-clinical individuals (mean age: 31.3 years, 53.8% female) completed a 7-day smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment study with six semi-random signals per day. With each signal, individuals reported their momentary positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), recent SC, and occurrence and perceived strain of daily hassles since the last signal.

Results

Whenever individuals reported higher recent SC than usual, they experienced higher momentary PA and lower momentary NA. Moreover, higher recent SC related to lower stress reactivity in terms of lower decrease of PA and lower increase of NA following the experience of daily hassles. No associations between SC and emotional inertia were found. When distinguishing between the positive components (SC-Pos) and negative components (SC-Neg) of SC, SC-Neg (compared to SC-Pos) was more strongly connected to NA, while SC-Pos and SC-Neg were similarly connected to PA. SC-Pos was associated with an attenuated NA stress reactivity, and SC-Neg with an increased NA stress reactivity. SC-Pos and SC-Neg did not significantly moderate PA stress reactivity nor emotional inertia.

Conclusions

Results show that the benefits of SC for well-being and stress reactivity may unfold whenever we treat ourselves with compassion, irrespective of how self-compassionate we are in general.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-022-02050-y.

Dynamics of affect, cognition and behavior in a general population sample of adolescents and young adults with current and remitted anxiety disorders: An Ecological Momentary Assessment study

BACKGROUND

Measures of dynamic changes in affect/emotions (variability, instability, inertia) have been linked to anxiety disorders (AD). We examine dynamics in affect, cognition and behavior in youth with current and remitted AD.

METHODS

Mental disorders were assessed in a general population sample (N = 1180, age 14-21; Dresden, Germany) using standardized interview. Ecological Momentary Assessment of real-life affect, cognition and behavior took place eight times/day for four days.

RESULTS

Individuals with current AD (n = 65) compared to healthy controls (HC, n = 531) revealed heightened variability of anxious and manic symptomatology, experiential avoidance, optimism and positive thoughts. Remitted AD (n = 52) showed lower variability of anxious and manic symptomatology and positive thoughts compared to current AD, while no differences were found compared to HC. Current AD and HC differed significantly in instability. Remitted AD showed lower instability of all constructs except for anger than current AD, and higher instability on all constructs except for positive and negative thoughts compared to HC. Current AD showed higher inertia of anger and negative thoughts than HC, and less inertia of positive thoughts than remitted AD.

DISCUSSION

AD in youths is particularly linked to higher variability and instability of intertwined emotion-related experiences that partly persist after remission, informing emotion regulation models and interventions.

Temporal dynamics of affect in the brain: Evidence from human imaging and animal models

Emotions are time-varying internal states that promote survival in the face of dynamic environments and shifting homeostatic needs. Research in non-human organisms has recently afforded specific insights into the neural mechanisms that support the emergence, persistence, and decay of affective states. Concurrently, a separate affective neuroscience literature has begun to dissect the neural bases of affective dynamics in humans. However, the circuit-level mechanisms identified in animals lack a clear mapping to the human neuroscience literature. As a result, critical questions pertaining to the neural bases of affective dynamics in humans remain unanswered. To address these shortcomings, the present review integrates findings from humans and non-human organisms to highlight the neural mechanisms that govern the temporal features of emotional states. Using the theory of affective chronometry as an organizing framework, we describe the specific neural mechanisms and modulatory factors that arbitrate the rise-time, intensity, and duration of emotional states.

Full throttle: Demonstrating the speed, accuracy, and validity of a new method for continuous two-dimensional self-report and annotation

Research on fine-grained dynamic psychological processes has increasingly come to rely on continuous self-report measures. Recent studies have extended continuous self-report methods to simultaneously collecting ratings on two dimensions of an experience. For all the variety of approaches, several limitations are inherent to most of them. First, current methods are primarily suited for bipolar, as opposed to unipolar, constructs. Second, respondents report on two dimensions using one hand, which may produce method driven error, including spurious relationships between the two dimensions. Third, two-dimensional reports have primarily been validated for consistency between reporters, rather than the predictive validity of idiosyncratic responses. In a series of tasks, the study reported here addressed these limitations by comparing a previously used method to a newly developed two-handed method, and by explicitly testing the validity of continuous two-dimensional responses. Results show that our new method is easier to use, faster, more accurate, with reduced method-driven dependence between the two dimensions, and preferred by participants. The validity of two-dimensional responding was also demonstrated in comparison to one-dimensional reporting, and in relation to post hoc ratings. Together, these findings suggest that our two-handed method for two-dimensional continuous ratings is a powerful and reliable tool for future research.

Affective dynamics in bipolar spectrum psychopathology: Modeling inertia, reactivity, variability, and instability in daily life

BACKGROUND

Bipolar psychopathology is characterized by affective dysregulation independent of mood episodes. However, previous research has relied on laboratory-based emotion-eliciting tasks or retrospective questionnaires that do not take into account temporal dynamics of affect. Thus, the present study examined affective dynamics (reactivity, variability, instability, and inertia) of low and high arousal negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) in daily life in those at risk for bipolar psychopathology.

METHODS

Undergraduates (n = 135) completed the Hypomanic Personality Scale and experience sampling surveys assessing affective experiences 8 times daily for 7 days.

RESULTS

HPS scores were associated with greater reactivity of NA when experiencing negative or stressful events, variability of NA (high and low arousal) and PA (high arousal), and instability of NA and PA (high and low arousal) in daily life. HPS scores were associated with a high probability of acute increases in NA and PA and were unassociated with levels of inertia.

LIMITATIONS

This study only examined short-term dynamics over 7 days. Future studies should model both short- and long-term dynamics and whether these dynamics predict behavioral outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide evidence that bipolar spectrum psychopathology is characterized by reactivity of NA as well as variability, instability, and acute increases in NA and PA in daily life over-and-above mean levels of affect. Modeling affective dynamics may provide context-relevant information about the course and trajectory of bipolar spectrum psychopathology and should facilitate the use of experience sampling methodology to study and intervene in mood lability in patients with bipolar disorders.