Savoring Changes Novel Positive Mindset Targets of GAD Treatment: Optimism, Prioritizing Positivity, Kill-joy Thinking, and Worry Mediation

Overview

Journal Behav Res Ther

Specialty Psychology

Date 2024 Apr 19

PMID 38640622

Authors

Lucas S LaFreniere

Michelle G Newman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This study analyzed effects of savoring on unstudied positive mindset targets of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) treatment (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05040061). 85 students with GAD were randomly assigned to one of two ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) on smartphone for seven days. The SkillJoy EMI promoted practices for savoring positive emotions. An active control EMI mirrored SkillJoy, yet did not include savoring or positive emotion. Optimism, worry, kill-joy thinking (lessening positive emotion with cognition), and prioritization of positive emotion activities and goals were assessed at pre-trial, eighth-day, post-trial, and 30-day follow-up. Savoring was assessed pre-trial and fifth-day mid-trial. Longitudinal linear mixed models and simple slope analyses examined change between and within conditions. Bias-corrected bootstrapping path analysis examined mediation of worry change by increased savoring. SkillJoy led to significantly greater increases in both optimism and prioritizing positivity than the control from pre-trial to post-trial and pre-trial to follow-up. Both interventions significantly reduced kill-joy thinking at both timepoints with Skilljoy leading to marginally greater change at post-trial. Pre- to mid-trial increases in savoring mediated the relationships between treatment condition and reductions in worry at both post-trial and follow-up.

Citing Articles

Patterns and influencing factors of savoring in caregivers of advanced cancer patients: a latent profile study.

Yao G, Deng M, Fang X, Zhang M, Guo H, Zhang B BMC Psychol. 2025; 13(1):163.

PMID: 40001130 PMC: 11863586. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-025-02526-1.

Contrast avoidance as a diagnostic feature of OCD: A receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis of the contrast avoidance questionnaires.

Swisher V, Newman M J Affect Disord. 2024; 368:734-740.

PMID: 39299593 PMC: 11560663. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.09.117.

References

Wilson K, MacNamara A . Savor the moment: Willful increase in positive emotion and the persistence of this effect across time. Psychophysiology. 2020; 58(3):e13754. PMC: 8640953. DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13754. View

Feldman G, Joormann J, Johnson S . Responses to Positive Affect: A Self-Report Measure of Rumination and Dampening. Cognit Ther Res. 2010; 32(4):507-525. PMC: 2847784. DOI: 10.1007/s10608-006-9083-0. View

Newman M, Jacobson N, Zainal N, Shin K, Szkodny L, Sliwinski M . The Effects of Worry in Daily Life: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study Supporting the Tenets of the Contrast Avoidance Model. Clin Psychol Sci. 2019; 7(4):794-810. PMC: 6675025. DOI: 10.1177/2167702619827019. View

Newman M, Schwob J, Rackoff G, Van Doren N, Shin K, Kim H . The naturalistic reinforcement of worry from positive and negative emotional contrasts: Results from a momentary assessment study within social interactions. J Anxiety Disord. 2022; 92:102634. PMC: 10187062. DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102634. View

LaFreniere L, Newman M . Upregulating positive emotion in generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial of the SkillJoy ecological momentary intervention. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2023; 91(6):381-387. PMC: 10580378. DOI: 10.1037/ccp0000794. View

Nagy G, Cernasov P, Pisoni A, Walsh E, Dichter G, Smoski M . Reward Network Modulation as a Mechanism of Change in Behavioral Activation. Behav Modif. 2018; 44(2):186-213. PMC: 7319253. DOI: 10.1177/0145445518805682. View

Johnson K, Waugh C, Fredrickson B . Smile to see the forest: Facially expressed positive emotions broaden cognition. Cogn Emot. 2013; 24(2):299-321. PMC: 3530173. DOI: 10.1080/02699930903384667. View

Newman M, Llera S, Erickson T, Przeworski A, Castonguay L . Worry and generalized anxiety disorder: a review and theoretical synthesis of evidence on nature, etiology, mechanisms, and treatment. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2013; 9:275-97. PMC: 4964851. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050212-185544. View

Werner-Seidler A, Banks R, Dunn B, Moulds M . An investigation of the relationship between positive affect regulation and depression. Behav Res Ther. 2012; 51(1):46-56. DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2012.11.001. View

10.

Sandman C, Craske M . Psychological Treatments for Anhedonia. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2021; 58:491-513. DOI: 10.1007/7854_2021_291. View

11.

LaFreniere L, Newman M . Reducing contrast avoidance in GAD by savoring positive emotions: Outcome and mediation in a randomized controlled trial. J Anxiety Disord. 2022; 93:102659. PMC: 9976801. DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102659. View

12.

Preacher K, Hayes A . Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behav Res Methods. 2008; 40(3):879-91. DOI: 10.3758/brm.40.3.879. View

13.

Sheehan D, Lecrubier Y, Sheehan K, Amorim P, Janavs J, Weiller E . The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): the development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10. J Clin Psychiatry. 1999; 59 Suppl 20:22-33;quiz 34-57. View

14.

Llera S, Newman M . Effects of worry on physiological and subjective reactivity to emotional stimuli in generalized anxiety disorder and nonanxious control participants. Emotion. 2010; 10(5):640-50. DOI: 10.1037/a0019351. View

15.

Baik S, Newman M . The transdiagnostic use of worry and rumination to avoid negative emotional contrasts following negative events: A momentary assessment study. J Anxiety Disord. 2023; 95:102679. PMC: 10191629. DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2023.102679. View

16.

Eisner L, Johnson S, Carver C . Positive affect regulation in anxiety disorders. J Anxiety Disord. 2009; 23(5):645-9. PMC: 2847490. DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.02.001. View

17.

Rasmussen H, Scheier M, Greenhouse J . Optimism and physical health: a meta-analytic review. Ann Behav Med. 2009; 37(3):239-56. PMC: 2941870. DOI: 10.1007/s12160-009-9111-x. View

18.

Jacobson N, Truax P . Clinical significance: a statistical approach to defining meaningful change in psychotherapy research. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1991; 59(1):12-9. DOI: 10.1037//0022-006x.59.1.12. View

19.

Alexander R, Aragon O, Bookwala J, Cherbuin N, Gatt J, Kahrilas I . The neuroscience of positive emotions and affect: Implications for cultivating happiness and wellbeing. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020; 121:220-249. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.12.002. View

20.

Scheier M, Carver C, Bridges M . Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): a reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1994; 67(6):1063-78. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.67.6.1063. View