Emotion regulation is the essential skill for improving depressive symptoms

For decades, research has shown that various skills (e.g., social skills) are associated with depressive symptoms. In recent years, much work has focused on skills for regulating emotion. Unfortunately, nearly all of these studies have investigated isolated skills. By contrast, the aim of the present study was the combined assessment of multiple skills in order to simultaneously analyze their relevance for depressive symptomatology. The authors wanted to identify skill domains that are essential for improving depressive symptoms.

The sample consisted of N=124 inpatients assessed at admission and discharge. Seven different skills were measured using a structured multidimensional interview. In addition, the severity of depressive symptoms was assessed.

Correlations between the improvements in skills and depressive symptoms reached significance for every skill domain ranging from r=.21 to r=.54. A multiple hierarchical regression analysis was conducted with pre-treatment scores of skills. Compared to other domains, only emotion regulation significantly predicted the improvement of depressive symptomatology. Moreover, emotion regulation at pre-treatment turned out to be a moderator of the association between improvements in skills and the reduction of depressive symptoms.

Because this study primarily focused on skills, no conclusions can be drawn regarding the relevance of these skills in relation to other predictors of therapy outcome.

Even when various skills are tested simultaneously, emotion regulation appears to be the essential skill influencing depressive symptom improvement. Therefore, a targeted enhancement of this skill may help to optimize the outcome regarding the treatment of depressive symptomatology.