Emotion regulation across psychiatric disorders

Abstract

Objective: Difficulties with emotion regulation have been associated with multiple psychiatric conditions. In this study, we aimed to investigate emotional regulation difficulties in young adults who gamble at least occasionally (ie, an enriched sample), and diagnosed with a range of psychiatric disorders using the validated Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS).

Methods: A total of 543 non-treatment-seeking individuals who had engaged in gambling activities on at least 5 occasions within the previous year, aged 18-29 were recruited from general community settings. Diagnostic assessments included the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Minnesota Impulsive Disorders Interview, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder World Health Organization Screening Tool Part A, and the Structured Clinical Interview for Gambling Disorder. Emotional dysregulation was evaluated using DERS. The profile of emotional dysregulation across disorders was characterized using Z-scores (those with the index disorder vs. those without the index disorder).

Results: Individuals with probable ADHD displayed the highest level of difficulties in emotional regulation, followed by intermittent explosive disorder, social phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder. In contrast, participants diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder showed relatively lower levels of difficulties with emotional regulation.

Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of recognizing emotional dysregulation as a trans-diagnostic phenomenon across psychiatric disorders. The results also reveal differing levels of emotional dysregulation across diagnoses, with potential implications for tailored treatment approaches. Despite limitations such as small sample sizes for certain disorders and limited age range, this study contributes to a broader understanding of emotional regulation's role in psychiatric conditions.

Keywords: Emotion regulation; emotional dysregulation; impulsivity; trans-diagnostic; young adults.

Figure 1

Profile of difficulties in emotion regulation across the range of mental health conditions. The panel shows z-scores for DERS total score in patient groups vs controls. The dotted lines indicate the threshold for at least small effect size deficit (z-score ≥ 0.3), and the dashed lines show the threshold for at least medium effect size deficit (z-score ≥ 0.5), vs controls. The bar ‘Any MINI’ shows the Z-Score for participants who had ANY mental disorder(s) as compared to those who had none, as a visual reference point.