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Published on: February 22, 2018
Differential Effects of High- and Low-Arousal Positive Emotions on Help-Seeking for Depression
Tasha Straszewski1, Jason T Siegel1
1Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, USA.
Background:
The current set of pre-registered studies tested the effect of savoring a high-arousal (exciting) or low-arousal (calm) positive experience on help-seeking intentions among people with heightened depressive symptomatology.
Methods:
Across all three studies, participants with heightened depressive symptomatology who had not yet sought help were randomly assigned to complete a 6-minute writing task where they reflected on an exciting memory, a calm memory, or what they did today and yesterday.
Results:
Savoring an exciting memory was associated with significantly greater arousal than savoring a calm memory and the control condition (Study 1; N = 218). Both savoring conditions were associated with greater positive emotion than the control condition (Study 2; N = 193). In Study 3 (N = 1,238), savoring an exciting memory, when compared to the control condition, increased help-seeking intentions, whereas savoring a calm memory did not.
Conclusions:
The current studies support the use of high-arousal, rather than low-arousal, positive emotions to increase help-seeking intentions among people with depression.
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