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. 2023;47(2):168-180.
doi: 10.1007/s10608-023-10352-1. Epub 2023 Feb 4.

Is Future Mental Imagery Associated with Reduced Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Negative Affect and Anhedonic Symptoms in Young People?

Taryn Hutchinson  1 , Laura Riddleston  1 , Victoria Pile  1 , Alan Meehan  1 , Meenakshi Shukla  2 , Jennifer Lau  3
Affiliations

Is Future Mental Imagery Associated with Reduced Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Negative Affect and Anhedonic Symptoms in Young People?

Taryn Hutchinson et al. Cognit Ther Res. 2023.

Abstract

Background: Difficulties with prospective mental images are associated with adolescent depression. Current treatments mainly focus on verbal techniques to reduce negative affect (e.g. low mood) rather than enhancing positive affect, despite anhedonia being present in adolescents. We investigated the concurrent relationships between the vividness of negative and positive prospective mental imagery and negative affect and positive affect; and examined whether negative and positive prospective mental imagery moderated the impact of recent stress (COVID-19-linked stress) on negative and positive affect.

Methods: 2602 young people (12-25 years) completed the Prospective Imagery Task and self-reported on symptoms of negative affect, anhedonia and COVID-19 linked stress.

Results: Elevated vividness of negative future mental imagery and reduced vividness of positive future mental imagery were associated with increased negative affect, whereas only reduced vividness of positive future imagery was associated with increased symptoms of anhedonia. Elevated vividness of negative future images amplified the association between COVID-19 linked stress and negative affect, while elevated vividness of positive future images attenuated the association between COVID-19 linked stress and anhedonia.

Conclusions: Future mental imagery may be differentially associated with negative and positive affect, but this needs to be replicated in clinical populations to support novel adolescent psychological treatments.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10608-023-10352-1.

Keywords: Adolescence; Anhedonia; COVID-19 stress; Depression; Mental imagery.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestTaryn Hutchinson, Laura Riddleston, Victoria Pile, Alan Meehan, Meenakshi Shukla and Jennifer Lau declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Moderation SEM model testing whether positive future imagery and negative future imagery moderate the effect of the impact of COVID-19 on negative affect and anhedonia symptoms. Note. Standardised beta coefficients and standard errors are reported. All analyses controlled for age, sex, SES and ethnicity. Solid lines indicate significant associations at p < .05
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Simple slopes graph for the moderation effect of negative future imagery on the relationship between the of impact of COVID-19 and negative affect. Note. Solid lines indicate low negative future imagery (1SD below the mean), and broken lines indicate high negative future imagery (1SD above the mean). Thinner lines indicate 95% confidence intervals
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Simple slopes graph for the moderation effect of positive future imagery on the relationship between the of impact of COVID-19 and anhedonia. Note. Solid lines indicate low positive future imagery (1SD below the mean), and broken lines indicate high positive future imagery (1SD above the mean). Thinner lines indicate 95% confidence intervals
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