Depression and Emotional Reactivity
We usually expect that someone with a depressed mood (i.e., dysphoria) is more likely to experience sad rather than happy emotional states. However, recent research points to a more complex relationship between mood and emotion in depression. Depressed people appear to have general difficulty experiencing context-specific changes in emotion – either positive or negative. Such changes are an important part of healthy emotion regulation, so this may be an important mechanism behind the perpetuation of dysphoria. In this paper you will review some recent research on emotional reactivity and context sensitivity in depression and discuss whether, and how, they may be related. Required References Caouette, J. D., & Guyer, A. E. (2016). Cognitive distortions mediate depression and affective response to social acceptance and rejection. Journal of Affective Disorders, 190, 792-799. Ellis, A.J., Christopher G. Beevers, C.G., & Wells, T. T. (2009). Emotional dysregulation in dysphoria: Support for emotion context insensitivity in response to performance-based feedback. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 40, 443-454. 3 other empirical articles (max 8 years old) The paper must include the following: An Introduction section in which the conceptual/theoretical framework for the topic is discussed. Current controversies or emphases in this area of study should be mentioned, particularly if relevant to the articles to be reviewed. If references for this section are not provided, it is the student’s job to provide this background using additional reference material. Do not use your text as a reference. A Research Review section, with headed subsections in which the research articles (required + your own chosen ones) are reviewed. Note: The reviewed studies must be synthesized. This is not a lab report; do NOT have subheadings for “method”, “results” and so forth, although these parts of the study should be included in summarized form. You are expected to draw out of the article the material that is important, as well as frame it in the context of the larger topic of your paper. Subsections, therefore, must be organized by key concepts, points, or themes. A final Discussion & Integration section, in which the findings of the research articles reviewed are integrated with the conceptual material discussed in the introductory section, and with the assigned topic. Importantly: this is where critical points about the body of research or suggestions for future research should be found.
