Upregulating Positive Emotion in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the SkillJoy Ecological Momentary Intervention
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Lafreniere, Lucas S
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 16, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Michelle Gayle Newman, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Michelle Gayle Newman, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Stephen Jeffrey Wilson, Committee Member
Richard Alan Carlson, Committee Member
Rayne Audrey Sperling, Outside Member
Kristin Ann Buss, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- generalized anxiety disorder
savoring
positive valence systems
ecological momentary interventions
worry
cognitive-behavioral therapy
self-monitoring
generalized anxiety disorder
savoring
positive valence systems
ecological momentary interventions
positive emotion
worry
cognitive-behavioral therapy
self-monitoring
ecological momentary assessment - Abstract:
- Skills for generating positive emotion may reduce symptoms and increase well-being for those with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). To test this approach, participants with GAD were randomly assigned to either a savoring treatment or a self-monitoring control. The savoring treatment consisted of an ecological momentary intervention (EMI) for learning and practicing savoring skills—SkillJoy. SkillJoy prompted participants to attend to positive aspects of the present moment, plan and engage in enjoyable activities, record and reflect on positive experiences, note events that turned out better than expected, and look forward to positive events. The active self-monitoring control EMI consisted of similar activities, but they all omitted savoring practices. These activities included attending to any current thoughts and feelings, planning everyday activities, remembering and recording daily events, and anticipating important events. Both EMIs were delivered by apps on participants’ smartphones for seven days. Linear mixed models and simple slopes analyses examined outcome change between and within conditions. Across different analyses, there was evidence to suggest SkillJoy resulted in significantly greater reductions in worry, kill-joy thinking, contrast avoidance, and depression symptoms, as well as greater increases in positive emotions, savoring the moment, prioritizing positivity, reinforcement-related emotional activation, positive anticipation, and optimism compared to the control. For both EMIs, there were also similar, significant decreases in overall GAD symptoms and increases in identifying as a happy person. Neither EMI meaningfully changed reminiscing or probabilistic reinforcement learning. SkillJoy appears to be efficacious for strengthening positive emotions and skills for their enhancement, while also reducing worry.