Imagery rescripting: The value of an added positive emotion component

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Trauma Studies
• Emotion Regulation

Background:

• Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) is a technique to reduce trauma-related distress.
• Existing ImRs protocols vary in their focus on positive emotions.
• The role of positive emotions in enhancing ImRs efficacy is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if adding an explicit positive emotion component to ImRs improves intervention outcomes.
• To explore differential effects on various arousal levels of positive affect.

Main Methods:

• A trauma film paradigm was used with 105 participants.
• Participants were randomized into standard ImRs, ImRs with added positive emotion (ImRs+), or a non-intervention control (NIC) group.
• Assessments included positive/negative affect and trauma-related intrusions over three days.

Main Results:

• ImRs+ significantly increased positive affect compared to standard ImRs and NIC.
• The increase in positive affect was observed for medium and high arousal positive emotions.
• No significant differences were found in negative affect or intrusion outcomes between groups.

Conclusions:

• Explicitly targeting positive emotions in ImRs reliably enhances positive affect.
• Further research is required to determine if this approach improves efficacy for intrusion-related outcomes.
• Limitations include potential floor effects for negative affect and intrusions.