Cognitive emotion regulation strategies in outpatients with major depressive disorder

The aim of this study was to examine cognitive emotion regulation strategies in adult outpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD). A clinical sample of 191 MDD outpatients and a non-clinical sample of 267 general adults were recruited. Nine cognitive emotion regulation strategies were assessed in all participants (aged 21-65 years). Results showed that MDD participants had significantly higher scores on the following strategies: self-blame, acceptance, rumination, catastrophizing, and blaming others, but lower scores on positive refocusing, refocus on planning, positive reappraisal, and putting in perspective strategies than general populations. In addition, self-blame, acceptance, and catastrophizing positively correlated and positive reappraisal negatively correlated with depressive symptoms in MDD populations. Further logistic regression analyses indicated that five strategies have significant and independent contributions to the prediction of MDD group membership (a higher reported use of self-blame, catastrophizing, and acceptance, and a lower reported use of positive refocusing, and putting in perspective). The results suggest that cognitive emotion regulation strategies may be a useful target for psychological assessment and treatment in patients with MDD.