Category: Adult Depression
Amanda C. Collins, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dartmouth College
Lebanon, New Hampshire
E. Samuel Winer, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Associate Professor
New School for Social Research
New York, New York
Amanda C. Collins, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dartmouth College
Lebanon, New Hampshire
Camryn Calafiore, M.A. (she/her/hers)
New School for Social Research
New York, New York
Michael Gallagher, M.S. (he/him/his)
Graduate Student
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, Mississippi
Samantha Hoffman, M.S. (she/her/hers)
San Diego State University/University of California Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology
San Diego, California
Existing theories have focused on the role of negative emotions and cognitions in the development and maintenance of depression and anxiety. However, Reward Devaluation Theory posits that the role of positive emotions and cognitions is also important in these disorders. Specifically, individuals with depression and/or anxiety experience fewer emotions and may avoid positive information. Positive affect treatments have been developed to target positivity dysfunction in depressed and/or anxious individuals, with promising results indicating that this treatment can improve positive affect while reducing negative affect, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. This symposium includes findings from four independent talks that explore the relationship between positive emotions and depression and/or anxiety, as well as how positivity avoidance impacts treatment match and efficacy.
In the first talk, Amanda Collins will present findings utilizing machine learning and natural language processing to detect and predict depression from daily diary text features, including emotion intensity and pronoun usage. These results indicate that passages that included lower joy intensity, higher sadness intensity, increased usage of first-person pronouns, and lower valence of passages with "I"/"me" as the subject emerged as important predictors of depression in the models.
In the second talk, Camryn Calafiore will present findings utilizing network analysis to investigate the relationship between anxiety, depression, and avoidance of positivity in two networks. These results indicate that relinquishment and avoidance of positivity emerged as bridge symptoms in the network, which likely indicate a transdiagnostic mechanism between these anxiety and depression.
In the third talk, Michael Gallagher will present findings from two studies that investigate how individuals who avoid positivity rate depression treatments regarding their perceived fit, preference, and effectiveness. These findings indicate that individuals with higher levels of fear of happiness are more likely to rate positive affect treatments as a poorer fit for them compared to individuals with low levels of fear of happiness. Moreover, other depression treatments, including behavioral activation, cognitive therapy, and psychodynamic therapy, were rated as a better fit than positive affect treatments.
In the fourth talk, Samantha Hoffman will present experimental findings that investigate the role of emotion suppression on the therapeutic bond and treatment response regarding a positive affect treatment. These results indicate the suppression of positive emotions, but not negative emotions, in a social affiliation task prior to treatment predicted a lower therapeutic bond, which then predicted worse treatment outcomes in depressed and/or anxious individuals.
Taken together, these four talks will provide evidence across different units of analysis on the importance of positive emotions in depression and/or anxiety. Moreover, these collective findings will demonstrate the importance of positivity avoidance or devaluation in these disorders and how this process can negatively impact treatment match and outcomes.
