2 - (SYM 130) Savoring Positive Emotions Reduces Pre-existing Worry in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: An Interventional Experiment

Practices to savor positive emotions may be infrequent in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) due to avoidance of vulnerability to emotional contrasts (“contrast avoidance”; Newman & Llera, 2014). Yet purposeful enjoyment and extension of positive emotion—savoring—may help reduce worry and increase well-being in the disorder (LaFreniere & Newman, 2023). One savoring treatment significantly reduced contrast avoidance itself in a GAD sample over one week (LaFreniere & Newman, 2022). Yet the in-the-moment effects of savoring on GAD are yet unknown, especially when practiced during a pre-existing worried state. The current study examined savoring after worry with a between-group experimental design, analyzed with multilevel modeling.

139 participants (57 with GAD) first took the criterion-based GAD-Q (assessing GAD diagnostic status), the BDI-II (on depression symptoms), the Savoring Beliefs Inventory (on naturalistic savoring), and the PANAS-X Joviality scale (on positive emotions). They were then explicitly taught about savoring practices. In study 1, they were instructed to practice savoring a photograph and video, timing and rating emotion duration and intensity. After, they completed a emotion neutralization task. Then in study 2, participants underwent a validated worry induction procedure followed by an interventional experiment. In a savoring condition, participants were instructed to savor a personally-chosen enjoyable video after worry. In a control condition, they watched an emotionally neutral video after worry. Analyses examined pre- to post-task change in positive emotion, worry, and anxiety with longitudinal linear mixed models controlling for depression symptoms.

Participants with GAD reported significantly lower scores on naturalistic savoring than those without GAD (t(133) = -2.58, p = .011, d = -0.38). Yet when explicitly taught and directed to savor, there were no differences between diagnostic groups in positive emotion duration and intensity. Longitudinal linear mixed models demonstrated that savoring after a worry induction significantly decreased worry (t(131.30) = -3.89, p < .001, d = -0.68), decreased anxiety (t(131.32) = -3.61, p < .001, d = -0.63), and increased positive emotions to greater degrees than the control task (t(134.34) = 14.62, p < .001, d = 2.52). These changes did not differ between diagnostic groups. All analyses controlled for depression symptoms. Although persons with GAD tend to savor less in daily life, intentional savoring may decrease worry and increase positive emotions.