Effect of Emotional Regulation Strategies on Psychological Distress in Obsessive-Compulsive Tendency

Abstract

Background: This study examined the effects of emotion regulation strategies on psychological distress in individuals with obsessive-compulsive tendencies.Methods: A total of 339 adults completed online and offline surveys administered to determine the level of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Among them, 56 were categorized into the obsessive-compulsive tendency group and randomly assigned to the reappraisal, acceptance, and suppression groups, where each participated in emotion regulation strategy training. Their psychological distress was assessed before and after the training.Results: The results of the repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the main effects of neither group nor time were significant, but the interaction between group and time was significant. The acceptance group showed a significant decrease in psychological distress post-training, whereas the suppression group showed a significant increase. The reappraisal group showed no significant changes in psychological distress before and after the training.Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the acceptance strategy was especially effective and adaptive in reducing psychological distress. These findings expand our understanding of emotion regulation strategies and have therapeutic implications. Finally, the implications and limitations of this study are discussed, presenting directions for future research.