Self-referential processing and emotion regulation in epilepsy: Associations with affective symptom burden

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Clinical Medicine

Background:

• Emotion regulation and self-referential processing are crucial in mental health.
• Their interaction is unexplored in people with epilepsy (PWE).
• PWE have high rates of anxiety and depression.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the interplay between emotion regulation and self-referential processing in PWE.
• Examine the association with affective symptomatology.
• Differentiate effects of epilepsy versus comorbidities on cognitive-affective function.

Main Methods:

• 23 PWE and 34 healthy controls (HC) completed tasks assessing self-referential processing (SRET), emotion regulation (ERQ, ASQ), depression (BDI-II), and anxiety (GAD-7).
• PWE were a clinical sample; HC were psychiatrically healthy.
• Ecological validity was maximized.

Main Results:

• PWE exhibited higher depression and anxiety symptoms and slower reaction times on the SRET for emotional adjectives compared to HC.
• No group differences were found in memory performance or emotion regulation strategies.
• Exploratory analyses revealed stronger correlations between affective symptoms, emotion regulation, and self-referential processing in PWE.

Conclusions:

• Self-referential processing and emotion regulation are more tightly linked to affective symptoms in PWE, suggesting comorbidities drive dysregulation.
• Emotion regulation capacities appear intact in PWE.
• Prolonged SRET reaction times may indicate increased cognitive-affective load or compensatory mechanisms, requiring further investigation.