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Differential Effects of High‐ and Low‐Arousal Positive Emotions on Help‐Seeking for Depression
Author(s) -
Straszewski Tasha,
Siegel Jason T.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
applied psychology: health and well‐being
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.276
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1758-0854
pISSN - 1758-0846
DOI - 10.1111/aphw.12214
Subject(s) - psychology , arousal , yesterday , low arousal theory , depression (economics) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , physics , economics , macroeconomics , astronomy
Background The current set of pre‐registered studies tested the effect of savoring a high‐arousal (exciting) or low‐arousal (calm) positive experience on help‐seeking intentions among people with heightened depressive symptomatology. Methods Across all three studies, participants with heightened depressive symptomatology who had not yet sought help were randomly assigned to complete a 6‐minute writing task where they reflected on an exciting memory, a calm memory, or what they did today and yesterday. Results Savoring an exciting memory was associated with significantly greater arousal than savoring a calm memory and the control condition (Study 1; N = 218). Both savoring conditions were associated with greater positive emotion than the control condition (Study 2; N = 193). In Study 3 ( N = 1,238), savoring an exciting memory, when compared to the control condition, increased help‐seeking intentions, whereas savoring a calm memory did not. Conclusions The current studies support the use of high‐arousal, rather than low‐arousal, positive emotions to increase help‐seeking intentions among people with depression.