Embracing the bodily felt affective experience: Experiential emotion regulation, a systematic review

Experiential emotion regulation (EER) has deep roots in phenomenological, humanistic psychotherapy and pertains to a conceptual paradigm considering emotions as part of a larger signaling and affective regulatory system. EER is defined by an active, accepting, and welcoming approach to the present bodily felt affective experiences or 'experiential awareness' and its symbolization or 'experiential expression' (Vandekerckhove et al., 2012).

The present systematic review aims to clarify, synthesize and present quantitative research evidence on the efficacy of EER and of its components. Specific objectives are formulated to nuance the population and contexts for which it is adaptive, and to identify the levels of functionality impacted by this strategy.

PRISMA methodology guided the present work. A search strategy was used in Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus libraries. The selected studies compared the effects of an experiential intervention with other emotion regulation strategies, or to control conditions; reported outcome measures at behavioral, physiological or neuronal level; used randomized control trial, factorial or quasi-experimental design; were peer-reviewed and were evaluated for their methodological qualities. Descriptive and quantitative information was systematically extracted, and a narrative synthesis of the results, together with its effect sizes is provided.

Only a small percentage of the 76 interventional studies included all the various components of the concept of EER. The assessed interventions can have beneficial effects in healthy population, but certain precautions should be considered for individuals with different psychological conditions. Contrasting effects inside and between different intervention categories, and at different functional levels are discussed.