Trait mindfulness, emotion dysregulation, and depression in individuals with multiple sclerosis

Emotion dysregulation plays a role in the development and maintenance of psychopathology. Given the higher rates of mood disturbances in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS), there is a need to explore the relationships between metrics of emotion dysregulation and potential protective traits. Mindfulness, a multi-faceted trait characteristic reflecting present moment awareness, is one such trait showing promise for positive associations with affective health. The current project assessed the relationship between trait mindfulness, the use of emotion regulation strategies during an emotionally evocative task, and depression in PwMS.

Sixty-one PwMS completed a worry/rumination induction task that examined emotion regulation strategy use in response to emotionally evocative stimuli.

Higher trait mindfulness was associated with both lower symptoms of depression and greater employment of acceptance-based strategies following worry and rumination inductions. Acceptance use mediated the relationship between trait mindfulness and symptoms of depression.

Our results suggest that the association between trait mindfulness and emotion dysregulation extends to the use of emotion regulation strategies during an emotionally evocative task. Additionally, emotion regulation strategy use, and acceptance in particular, may play a role in the relationship between trait mindfulness and depression. These findings suggest that increasing levels of mindfulness through clinical interventions may present a path toward improving emotion regulation, and by extension, reducing the symptoms of depression in PwMS.