Integrating mindfulness into the extended process model of emotion regulation: The dual-mode model of mindful emotion regulation

Abstract

Extensive research has been conducted regarding how people manage their emotions. Within this research, there has been growing attention toward the role of mindfulness in emotion regulation. While prior reviews have discussed mindfulness in the context of emotion regulation, they have not provided a thorough integration using the prevailing models of emotion regulation or mindfulness. The present review discusses the Extended Process Model of Emotion Regulation and Monitoring and Acceptance Theory of mindfulness in order to propose a novel integrated framework, the Dual-mode Model of Mindful Emotion Regulation (D-MER). This model proposes two "modes" of mindfulness: Implementation and facilitation. Implementation posits that mindfulness skills can be used as emotion regulation strategies through attentional deployment and cognitive change. Facilitation posits that mindfulness as a state or trait affects emotion generation and regulation through effects on cognitive processes and positive or negative valence systems. Further, the D-MER posits that mindfulness experience can improve the efficiency of mindfulness-based emotion regulation strategies (implementation) while effects of mindfulness on emotion regulation processes become increasingly trait-like and automatic over time (facilitation). Empirical and theoretical support for this model are discussed, specific hypotheses to guide further research are provided, and clinical implications are presented. Use of this model may identify mechanisms underlying the interaction between mindfulness and emotion regulation which can be used in ongoing affective and clinical research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1.

Extended Process Model of Emotion Regulation Note. Extended Process Model (Gross, 2015b, 2015a; Webb, Schweiger Gallo, et al., 2012). A) Each stage of the EPM is composed of four components reflecting the world (internal or external stimulus to be appraised; W), perception (awareness of the stimulus; P), valuation (appraisal of the stimulus relative to salient goals; V), and action (prepotent behavioral output on the stimulus; A). Emotion generation (purple) receives and values input by the outside world to produce an affective reaction composed of loosely coupled activation across systems (cognitive, physiological, and behavioral). The identification stage (yellow) perceives and values current emotional experience to determine whether emotion regulation should occur. The selection stage (orange) perceives and values regulatory families (see panel B) to determine the broad category of regulation. The implementation stage (red) perceives, values, and applies specific tactics within a regulatory family (e.g., within cognitive change: reinterpreting the meaning of a stimulus, creating psychological distance, challenging distorted automatic thoughts). All emotion regulation stages are also overseen by monitoring dynamics (pink). B) Each family of emotion regulation strategies acts on a specific component of emotion generation, reflected in the figure by shared colors (e.g., attentional deployment affects the ways that stimuli are perceived, while cognitive change affects how stimuli are valuated).

Figure 2.

Monitoring and Acceptance Theory of mindfulness Note. Monitoring and Acceptance Theory (Lindsay & Creswell, 2017, 2019), see text for additional details.

Figure 3.

Dual-mode Model of Mindful Emotion Regulation Note. W = World, P = Perception, V = Valuation, A = Action. Emotion regulation components are from the Extended Process Model of Emotion Regulation while mindfulness components are from Monitoring and Acceptance Theory. Our model posits that the two mindfulness components act differentially as emotion regulation (Implementation) and on emotion generation and regulation processes (Facilitation). See text, Table 1, and Table 2 for additional details.