Upregulating positive emotion in GAD

Here, again, I am presenting a second post related to the last one. LaFreniere & Newman (2023) published “Upregulating Positive Emotion in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A randomized controlled trial of the SkillJoy ecological momentary intervention” In Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.  Lucas (Luc) LaFreniere has a long history of research on anxiety and worry; he specializes in developing and researching ecological momentary interventions for anxiety and worry. I am beginning with the edited authors’ perspective then the abstract with some information in bold:

Savoring is the purposeful creation, enjoyment, and extension of positive emotions. People with high levels of worry -- Generalized Anxiety Disorder -- may worry less and feel happier after repeated savoring practices. In this study, we compared use of a smartphone app for savoring (SkillJoy) to a control mental health app in clinically-severe worriers. Participants used their condition's app for 7 days. Overall, results suggested that the savoring app significantly reduced worry and depression symptoms while also significantly increasing positive emotion and savoring practices. It did so more than the control mental health app for every outcome except depression, which meaningfully decreased for both apps equally. Results suggest repeated savoring may both reduce symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and increase well-being.

Historically, clinical interventions and psychotherapy have focused on directly changing negative emotions and thoughts. Savoring is a practice that focuses solely on intentionally enjoying and extending positive emotions. This study demonstrates that a positive emotion intervention like savoring may both reduce negative symptoms (like worry and depression) while also increasing well-being (like positive emotions) at the same time. It suggests it may be beneficial to add savoring techniques to treatments and psychotherapies for people with worry and anxiety.

Eighty-five participants were diagnosed with GAD by both questionnaire and clinical interview. They were then randomly assigned to one of two seven-day smartphone-delivered ecological momentary interventions (EMIs). SkillJoy, a savoring ecological momentary intervention, prompted participants to attend to positive aspects of the present moment, engage in and savor planned enjoyable activities, record and reflect on recent positive experiences, note events that turned out well, and look forward to positive events. The active self-monitoring control (ASM) mirrored SkillJoy’s activities and wording, yet omitted savoring. It included attending to current thoughts and feelings, planning everyday activities, remembering and recording daily events, and anticipating important events. Participants were assessed at pre- and posttreatment with a 30th day follow-up. 

This study suggests practicing skills for increasing and sustaining positive emotions may successfully treat worry, generalized anxiety disorder, and symptoms of depression. It may also increase positive emotions and purposeful enjoyment at the same time.

I love this approach. It makes sense in relation to several posts I have written about emotion-focused interventions. Unfortunately, so far, I have been unable to find the app to which they refer. I hope this work is replicated since it seems very promising.